Surging Forward
by Fayth3
Summary: Sequel to Moving Ahead... which is the sequel to Left Behind. I can't believe i'm doing this. Max and Alec are out in the world now and they have more worries than looking for their family. COMPLETE.
1. Prologue

A/N- Well, here it is. The long awaited sequel to Moving Ahead. I'd like to thank all those that reviewed the last chapter of MAH, you all rock and especially that girl who came late and reviewed EVERY CHAPTER. JeNsEnS wifey ChAdZ lover- Thank you

The sequel to Moving Alongside to those that are interested in that side of things will be up mid-week. (Yes I had to write two! Feel free to point and mock.)

The next part to this will hopefully be out same time next week and should let us know what our guys have been up to but you know the drill by now- more reviews faster posting not that I'm greedy or anything

Once again, thanks to my betas Itay and Kat.

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** Surging forwards.******

The man who stalked through the rough military camp looked out of place amidst the camouflage and Khaki of the soldiers that littered the grounds.

The camp itself didn't belong in the lush forest and it was obvious that speed and necessity rather than stealth and style had been behind its formation; the rough canvas tents and durable shelters thrown up rather than carefully constructed, as was the norm for these trained soldiers.

By the frantic expression on their normally placid faces and scurrying movements it was also patently clear that something was amiss… seriously amiss.

As he strode resolutely through the encampment like he owned it, the man sneered in disgust at the flickers of worry on their faces. To him it was a pointless waste of energy and resources to worry about something that had already happened and you had no control over. A more valuable approach would be to concentrate on the task ahead.

He was by no means an unpleasant looking man; his piercing dark blue eyes that could turn from soulful to soulless in a heartbeat were set deep in his handsome face giving him a thoughtful look. When his mouth deigned to curve into a smile it transformed his usually stern face into a heart-stopping picture of youth and vitality, good-humour and mercy.

Which just goes to show that appearances are deceiving; for mercy is one the last traits that Ames White possessed.

His thick brown hair was cut in a long businessman's style so that it barely brushed the top of his leather jacket. The jacket, of course, was of the finest Italian leather and, along with his Italian loafers, designer jeans and crisp white shirt, the whole ensemble screamed 'successful professional'. In the right light he could be mistaken for a lawyer or an accountant. But once the jacket was removed there was no way the strong rippling muscles came from pushing papers. Of course the gun in the shoulder holster helped to dispel the accountant image. Though Ames White was just pushing 5'7 there was no mistaking the aura of danger, of untapped rage that permeated the air around him.

It was that authoritative air that made the men in the main command hut stiffen and snap to attention as he walked in, throwing the opening flaps aside like he was in an old-fashioned western.

Not bothering with perfunctory greetings or mindless small talk White snapped his orders.

"Okay, people, what have we got?"

White held back a patronizing smirk as they fell over themselves to do his bidding.

"Yes, Sir," one of the subordinates, who was slightly less inefficient than the others scurried forth with a clipboard and, handing it to White, said, "Here is the data that we've compiled so far from the facility—body count, number of possibly subjects, staff— it's incomplete but its all we managed to salvage so far, they had a pretty top of the range fail safe system for eradication of files."

White flicked disinterestedly through the papers, his eyes straying to the young Hispanic man who stood in front of him, his tailored suit slightly wrinkled in the heat of the late Seattle summer.

Antonio Mendez waited for White to look up at him before he continued, "We've been running the satellite signal for the past 78 hours, and so far we've only had four turn up at the rendezvous point.

White folded his arms across his chest, the clipboard hanging, forgotten, from one hand as he regarded Mendez.

"Four?" He flapped the clipboard. "I thought this read that there was at least 8 X-series each numbering over a hundred soldiers, not including second generations, transhumans and rejects."

"Anomalies."

"What?" White turned to the unfortunate lab tech that had spoken out of turn and subsequently had the full wrath of White on him.

"Uh… uh… failed experiments were called anomalies, not rejects."

White glared hard at the tech who was wishing he'd been mute, "Like I care what the freaks are called. What I _do_ care about is where the hell they are."

Mendez cleared his throat, "We are still working on that, Sir. The transgenics are trained to come when the satellite beacon tells them to. They should have started to arrive by now." This was the part he wasn't looking forward to. "According to our sources from the insides, there was an unscheduled PA announcement just before the explosions. We think that that might have something to do with it. All announcements are recorded into the security system, which was pretty trashed by the explosions. We are trying to pull it off the tape but it'll take some time."

White nodded, "Keep me informed. I want these scum off our streets."

He turned his back on the techs and stalked out of the tent, pulling a small, top-of-the-range cell phone from his jacket pocket and speed dialling.

"Fen'es'tol, No, not yet from Intel that we have gathered so far it seems that an emergency broadcast went out before the place blew, it could account for why we've had so few numbers at the rendezvous points." He listened for a while, his face unreadable. "Of course not, he may have been further ahead in his work than we imagined but we'll round them up. It's not like they can hide for very long. I'll keep in touch. Fen'es'tol."

White hung up the cell and stared up at the sky. Several hundred freaks run out of a top-secret facility that shouldn't even exist and they can't seem to locate more than a handful? It was a national disaster and one that Ames White had more than a personal interest in clearing up.

He sighed heavily and folded his arms even though he didn't feel the cold.

The question was; if he was a genetically engineered freak, juiced up to the eyeballs and with delusions of being human, where would he go?

"Where are you hiding?"

tbc...


	2. 1 Starting over again

72 reviews for a prologue has to be some sort of record—especially when it didn't even star the main characters! Big thanks to all that welcomed me back, Love you all tonnes. Hope that this meets expectations—Enjoy!

To make up for no Max/Alec in the prologue Alec looses his shirt in this part—aren't I good to you?

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Chapter 1- **Starting Over Again.**

The smoke curled around the darkness making the place even less inviting than before and it hadn't been that enticing then. The acrid smell of sweat, blood, testosterone and spilled beer filled even the most insensitive of noses until the nasal system wanted to close down and admit defeat. The cacophony of sound was deafening as jeers, cheers and screams littered the air like the cigarette butts littered the floor.

The place was a mess, but people didn't come here for the décor. They came for the roar of the crowds, the sound of flesh on flesh and the chance to see someone get battered to unconsciousness. Oh and the chance to win some money on the selfsame someone that they hoped would end up looking like dog-meat.

Max popped her gum and huddled deeper into her jacket, pulling her baseball cap lower on her head and inching closer to Alec.

"Ah, I wondered where the missing links went."

Alec grinned, "Are you kidding Max, this place is great."

Max looked up to see if her partner had indeed gone off the deep end as she suspected.

"Great? Alec, it's a flea-pit in the armpit of the universe."

The disgust showed loud and clear in her voice and Alec shrugged, a smirk evident on his handsome face.

"Sure it's rough, Maxie, but its one place that Manticore won't be looking for us," he peered down at the woman at his side and smiled sincerely at her. "Besides we don't need to be here long."

Anyone looking at the two of the standing together in the shadows would be hard pressed to identify them as two of the most dangerous people in the room. Barely pushing twenty they were both slim and athletic looking. The girl had luscious long dark hair that was shoved unceremoniously under a black baseball cap that had clearly seen better days. Her perfect features were accentuated with big pouty lips and clear oval eyes that a man could drown in. The stubborn set to her chin told of a fiery temper and her folded arms bespoke of a woman that was used to getting her own way. Her stance was one of authority and the very air around her seemed to shimmer with her vitality.

The man with her was taller by a good few inches and capped by thick dark blond hair that slipped into his deep soulful green eyes. His lean frame was hidden under a leather jacket which was scarred and scratched to match his battered denim jeans which hugged his muscles and powerful legs. Both had movie-star good looks and seemed so out of place in the rough-house of a fight club.

No one would ever expect that they were genetically engineered super-soldiers recently escaped from a top-secret military facility that had been destroyed by its superiors. Neither would anyone expect that they were the very best of the facility, the Commanding Officers of the elite force known as Special Operatives.

Max and Alec had been there when the facility had burnt to the ground and they had lost friends and family in the blaze, although thanks to Max's quick use of the PA system to warn everyone, not as many as they would have originally.

It was still a bitter pill to swallow that the people, who had been responsible for their upbringing and training, so readily tried to barbeque them, which was why they had to lay low for now.

It also meant that they needed to find ways of making quick, untraceable cash. Hence the fight club.

Alec had seen the flyers for it all around town and he had finally convinced Max to come with him just to check it out. She hadn't wanted to, but he had pleaded and who was she to resist the puppy dog eyes of her partner.

Now that she was here, she was wondering if she shouldn't have just stayed back in that ramshackle hut they had found in the woods just outside Manticore where they had slept these past few nights.

It had only been less than a week since her home had burned down and she was still filled with the urgency of finding her missing family, this was topped only by the urgency to eat. She was starving.

Her stomach growled at her and she turned to Alec, "Well, go and find out how you sign up to have your ass kicked and I'll… scout."

"Okay, be careful darling—don't break anything we might have to pay for," he leaned down and pressed a kiss to her lips making her close her eyes and lean up on tiptoe to increase contact.

This was so new and delicious, the notion that she could kiss him anytime she wanted and that he wanted to kiss her back. He had professed his love just before the facility blew up and she returned it.

Alec groaned and pulled her closer, feeling her body fit perfectly alongside his. She still tasted of honey and sweet vanilla and it drove him crazy to be close to her and not take her.

Max pulled away reluctantly and smiled at him.

"Go," she whispered and flitted into the crowds making sure that she was unobtrusive a she mingled.

Alec stared after her for a second before shaking himself and heading to the fight arena. He had a job to do.

Max watched him leave for the stage and grinned at the power that she held over him, she just wished that power expanded to the rest of these bums then maybe she'd have some help in finding her family, who she missed desperately. The thought of mischievous Pix, sweet Zan and delectable Dek made her wrap her arms around herself. She missed them so much.

Where were they?

-----------

"Hey,"

The short stocky woman turned around to pin Alec with a stern glare.

"Yeah?" her voice was coarse from a mixture of cigarettes and screaming and it matched the worn look that she sported. Her vibrant orange hair was as frightening as her demeanour and her strong forearms yelled that she could take care of herself in a tough situation. Her thick chambray shirt was rolled up above her elbows and was creased from the muggy heat that swamped the club. Her dark eyes glittered dangerously and Alec turned on his most charming smile.

"I'd like to fight," he got straight to the point knowing full well that his charms would only work so far on this hardened woman.

"So go call some wrestler a fag," she dismissed him. "Be easier to head back to the fancy boy bar you walked from."

Alec grinned, "Aw thanks, ma'am, but I was a pro-wrestler back home and a cage fighter up in Canada. I know I don't look much but if you give me a shot I can guarantee you won't be disappointed."

The woman turned back to him, her eyebrow raised high. She raked her eyes over him in scrutiny. "They'll kill ya. You're too scrawny."

"I'm too fast for them to do that," Alec played his cards well. "If nothing else think of the additional girl fees when I take off my shirt."

The woman barked out a laugh, "You got guts anyhow. I guess I can afford to give ya shot. Nothing fancy." She turned to her clipboard. "Freddy Fists is up next, you can fight him."

Alec nodded, "Thanks ma'am."

"It's Annie, and don't thank me," she barked out. "We don't have insurance."

Alec chuckled as she stormed off and his hands went to the hem of his shirt as the bell clanged signalling the end of the round.

-------

Max sighed and rolled her eyes not sure that she even wanted to be here. There were guys all over the place and all of them seemed way to drunk and way too affectionate for her liking. If one more guy tried to pinch her ass she wouldn't be held accountable for her actions.

"Hey baby, can I buy you a drink?"

"I'd prefer the cash," Max muttered and spun, grabbing his hand just before it connected with her ass. "Now would be nice."

"Ah!" the man grunted as she squeezed and his bones squeaked. "W-what?"

"Wallet?" Max asked with a pseudo pleasant grin as she exerted more pressure. "Penance for assaulting a lady."

"You ain't no lady you psycho bitch!" he hissed as he bent his knees with the pain. Max ignored the attention they were getting from his drunken friends and reached into his pocket, pulling out his wallet.

She grabbed a few bills before tucking it back into his pants and letting go of his hand.

He stumbled away from her and she beamed.

"Thanks."

He snarled but was smart enough, or not drunk enough, to go after a girl who could cause that much pain with one hand.

Max glanced around to see Alec step into the ring, she giggled and walked over to one of the men shouting for bets in the corner.

"Hi, I'd like to put three hundred dollars on the good looking one."

The tall bookie stared down at the slight girl who was out of place in this rough establishment. He, however, fit in perfectly as his white wife-beater was grubby and his jeans torn almost beyond recognition. His tiny eyes squinted at her and he shrugged. "It's long odds sweetheart, I mean Freddy Fists is a pro, the pretty boy ain't even bloodied yet."

Max smirked and fluttered her eyes, "I like… long odds."

The bookie chuckled and took her cash, "All right, sweetheart."

Max rolled her eyes and turned back to the cage catching Alec's eye with a smirk.

-----------

Alec heard the cat-calls and wolf-whistles as he stepped into the grungy cage. He smirked and cracked his neck muscles trying to loosen up for the fight ahead. It was less than a week ago that he was fighting against Max so it wasn't like he was out of shape. But the very idea of running away—strategic retreat—filled him with an unsoldierly feeling of cowardliness and he hated that edginess inside him. He needed to work it off and this would be the perfect way of doing that.

Annie, the ring lady, walked into the ring and grabbed the overhead mike. Alec grinned as made contact with Max whose eyes rolled in bemusement. He shrugged.

Annie leaned over to him, "Okay pretty boy, what do you wanna be called?"

Alec thought for a second, "Monty Cora."

Static burst into the air as the mike switched on and Annie stood tall, "Attention, now for the next fight we have a new challenger!"

Boos and hisses accompanied that statement and Alec just kept grinning. He'd show them.

"First the champion, with a mean 12 wins and only two losses in his fight career, weighing in at 212 pounds; Freddy Fists!"

Alec looked up as a tall broad man in striped silk boxer shorts sauntered into the ring to the cheers, his bald head glistening with sweat and the stench of stale beer hanging off him. Alec grimaced.

"Now the challenger, his first time in the ring, this pretty boy hails from parts unknown, weighing in at," Annie eyed him, "178 pounds I give you Monty Cora!"

There was polite applause and not so polite laughter and Alec jumped on the spot a few times to psyche himself up.

"Aww you so cute, I don't wanna mess up your pretty face," Freddy Fists leered.

"Sorry dude, but I already have a girlfriend," Alec said sarcastically.

Freddy lost his smile and aimed a roundhouse punch at Alec, who dodged quickly and was back to his original position before Freddy knew what had happened.

He blinked as if confused and Alec shrugged. Freddy swung at him again… and missed. And again.

Alec held back his laughter and this time danced a bit further back so that when Freddy swung for him his centre of balance was off and he lurched forward like a drunken scarecrow.

----

Max rolled her eyes again at the obvious enjoyment Alec had as he led the man into a bizarre dance around the ring. People were laughing as Freddy looked more and more bewildered and were yelling for Alec to just hit him already.

Alec looked up and Max nodded so he went on the offensive. His arm swung out to snap Freddy's head back. The swift back hand left a trail of blood and saliva hanging from his mouth.

"Careful," Max hissed, more to herself than to him. "He isn't transgenic, you could kill him."

Alec dodged Freddy's furious fists and sucker-punched him in the gut. Freddy bent double with a gasp and the crowd cheered madly.

Max stepped back as hoards of men rushed forward to see the action and Alec was obscured from her view.

The men rose up in a roar of sound and the ebb of testosterone as the fight played on made Max uneasy.

It sent her back, back too far into her memories of Wyoming and the young boy who had made her life a misery laughing and joking with this fellow bullies as he beat her. The hysterical laughter as they hit each other for entertainment echoed Bulli's snickers as she lay bleeding at his feet.

The smell of blood and the sound of flesh on flesh was all at once too familiar and Max scampered back into the shadows suddenly not wanting to be seen.

She watched, her face no longer lit up, as Alec fought back and quickly and efficiently took down Freddy Fists.

The crowds pounded their enthusiasm into the hardwood floor slick with its spillages and the sound spun Max's senses.

As the orange haired harridan lifted Alec's arm in triumph and his eyes searched for hers in the crowd, Max allowed herself to step into the light again hand give him an approving smile knowing that he would feel it.

He turned to her and his eyes lit up, the expression of pride that slid across his face made that much sweeter because she was there to share it with him. She felt her own sombre mood dissipate and she smiled back at him; his chest gleaming with sweat and his hair ruffled like he'd just climbed out of bed, it was adorable and Max knew that he was all hers.

That man up there that they all idolised was in love with her. He loved her.

And she loved him, of course.

They hadn't consummated that love yet, it was kind of hard to do so when you are the run for your life and Max had emphasised the need for constant vigilance as opposed to the relaxation of having the one you loved cradled in your arms and Alec had seen the point, he wasn't pleased, but he saw the point.

But maybe now that he had some money, they could find a place and she could finally be with him. She could touch him the way she had wanted to since Manticore and before the whole thing with Ben… Ben!

Max's face lit up as she realised that she now had two sets of family that she could look for. The 09ers, whist harder to find, would also welcome a visit from little Maxie and the sooner she found the X5s the better. She hugged herself in delight as she thought of hugging Jondy, having a high-five with Zack and talking with Ben all night.

She would find them, find them all and she could finally be content. All she needed was some cash to get started. Speaking of cash she had a bet to cash in.

-----

"Sir, we want you to hear this."

"I thought I told you I didn't want to be disturbed?" White glared at the hapless man as he shuffled his feet. White had been in one of the canvas tents going through his fitness regime a serious regime that he adamantly maintained shouldn't be disrupted by anyone. He had lost his shirt and leather jacket and was just in his vest which wasn't even slightly ruffled with his exertion.

"Yes, sir, but you also wanted to be informed when we found something."

White put the weights down and walked after the lowly tech, inclining his eyebrows at those who stopped in deference to him.

He entered the canvas tent that teamed with people on computers or at radios diligently tapping away like good little automatons.

"What do you have?" he ordered and felt a perverse kind of glee as they jumped at his tone.

Antonio Mendez, the tall Hispanic was the only one brave enough approached him.

He directed White over to a large black radio system with reels of tape spooled on cassette heads. It looked like a prop from a 50s' spy movie and White grimaced.

"We managed to pull off the unscheduled announcement from the PA system. Now, part of the tape was corroded in the fire and we are attempting to clear it up some, but auditory have told me that this is probably the best we are going to get." Mendez sucked in a breath and pressed play.

"_Hal… not panic, this …452 … Code…. Listen to…You… betrayed by your command; Manticore… under attack…. by… superiors….go to ground…This... **not** … drill. …not accept… than… coded, do not trust… Wait for my signal … Repeat. You are … command; re—ploy… your unit …go … g—nd ...49— …luck."_

White stared in disbelief at the tape, "What the hell was that?"

Mendez bit his lip and rewound the tape, "It's a partial. As far as it stands this… 452 announced to the transgenics that they were being betrayed by command and that they should go to ground and not accept any correspondence than a coded one from her."

"Yeah, I got that," White snapped.

"It would explain why we haven't had more than a handful at the rendezvous point."

White glared at the black reels as if they were personally responsible for his current bad temper. "So in order to get these filthy freaks to congregate together we have to get this 452 to tell us the code word."

"She'd have to impart the code herself, according to the file we were sent by Colonel Lydecker, the transgenics were taught to respond a certain voice pattern as well. It has to be 452."

"X5-452?"

White turned to the hesitant voice in the corner, an unwelcoming expression on his face. "What?"

The man was one that had been assigned to him from the bureau as his aide. Some guy called Otto Gottlieb who was another generic Hispanic with dark hair and piercing eyes. He wore his tailored suit well but with an air of naivety.

"Otto?" White prompted as the man flicked through a Manila file.

"X5-452 was the designation of the C.O. of Special Ops."

"Special Ops?"

Otto cleared his throat and looked at White without flinching—a major feat for most, "Special Operatives, sort of the best of Manticore's best. Black Ops, assassinations, long term, decoys and spies."

"So 452 is the best of the best of the best?" White replied sardonically.

"Yes, Sir, it would appear so," Otto replied evenly.

White rubbed his hands together thinking deeply about this unexpected turn of events. Why go chasing all over the damn country for these freaks of nature? All he needed was to get this 452 and make her give the code for them to reconvene and _they_ would come to him. In droves.

A small smirk lit his stern face.

"Very well, I want all the information you can find on this 452. I want her mission specs, her training schedule, her kill record, her specialised training; everything down to her shoe size."

The drones hurried to do his bidding, "And for God's sake someone get me a picture of this bitch!"

White walked out of the tent, leaving them bustling as he headed back to the training tent to pick up his jacket and shirt and head home for the day. He wanted to spend some time with his son and wife before he had to report to the Elders. If he could get hold of this freak, all his problems would clear up soon. She was just one freak—how hard could it be?

----

"How hard could it be, it's just a fight club?" Max mocked as she folded her arms over her chest and glared at Alec.

He held his hands up sheepishly and gave her his best little boy smile.

"Sorry Maxie," he shoved his hands into his pockets and pulled out a wad of cash. "But look, I made a killing tonight."

"Was it worth every piece of filth in the place hitting on me and trying to cop a feel, all night?" she asked archly.

Alec's eyes darkened as he pulled her closer. "They touched you?"

Max shrugged and smiled slyly, "I broke their fingers. But it's the thought that counts."

"Well, it got us this place," Alec gestured around to the small two bed-roomed apartment that he managed to find this morning after spending all last night in the club. They had quit the dirty smelly place around 3am and had walked all night, hand in hand through the streets of Seattle looking for a place to stay.

As soon as dawn rose they found a pretty little apartment that was big enough to suit both their budget and their needs. It wasn't very big or luxurious, but it was clean and tidy with enough exit points that made them feel safe. After his brief stay in Psy- Ops Alec had started placing money on one side from his missions and from tips that Mr. Berrisford's associates had let slip about the stock market and shares. Most of it was tied up in a bank and couldn't be accessed just yet—hence the need for immediate cash—but that also meant that in time he could afford somewhere nicer for him and Max to stay. Not that this place wasn't nice in itself. It was a second storey apartment with two bedrooms and adjoining bathroom. There was a living room and a kitchen and that was really all that was needed… except for Alec's TV with cable, of course.

The décor was tastefully done in cream and green and although Max protested that it would show the blood, she had been pleased with her first "house", a place that she could call her own.

Max smiled in appreciation as she shut the door behind her and walked into the apartment, just looking around.

"That it did," she said and nodded. "In that case you are forgiven."

Alec grabbed her hand, pulling her back against him with a small squeal on her part, and he grinned and ducked his head pressing his lips to hers, revelling in his newfound freedom to kiss her whenever he wanted.

His fingers ran through her hair and he pulled her head closer deepening the kiss.

Max sighed deep in her chest as she tangled her hands in his dark blue shirt, pulling him closer. Their tongues danced and duelled as they fought for command but relinquished control. Alec pulled away gasping heavily and leaned his forehead against hers.

"I love you," he whispered hoarsely so ecstatic that he could verbalise that now without worrying that she'd leave or laugh at him.

"Good," she smirked and pulled his mouth back to hers. This time it was Max that led the dance, her hands making their way to his shirt and slowly unbuttoning it. Her hands traced circles on his chest as it was revealed to her delicate fingers and Alec shivered.

"Mm, Max that tickles," he breathed against her lips.

"Ticklish?" her eyes gleamed as filed that away for later use. "I'm kissing you, shut up."

Alec's lips twitched, "Yes, ma'am."

They kissed for several seconds before he couldn't resist anymore, "Did anyone ever tell you that you were hot when you got all authoritarian?"

Max pulled away and glared at him, "Yes, Dek, now I believe I told you to shut up!"

Alec growled and pulled her back, possessiveness ruling his passion as he devoured her.

The kissing continued on and soon they lay together on the couch, half undressed and hands skimming over exposed skin. Alec laid kisses across Max's collarbone, his lips tickling her sensitive skin as she threw her head back to allow him better access. Max yanked at Alec's shirt and pulled it out of his jeans, grimacing at the blood spatters that were reminders of the night's activities.

She pulled away with the shirt in her hands, her throat working hard as she stared at the blood, her mind running away with her.

_Dammit, why can't we have one day without the blood? All the fighting and where has it got us to? I'm so damn tired of fighting. _Max sagged. _So, so tired of all the blood.___

Alec grabbed her hands, "Maxie?"

"I'm sorry," she sighed, rubbing her face. "I can't relax."

Alec sighed and raked his hand through his hair. "No, its okay, I understand. I mean we only kissed a week ago."

Max handed him back his shirt and wrapped her arms around herself, "Sorry."

"Hey, now," Alec dropped the shirt and hurried forward, wrapping his arms around her. "Its okay, Maxie."

Max turned in his arms and felt the familiarity surround her. No matter what was going on in her head she knew that this was Alec and he would never push or pressure into something that she just wasn't ready for, either mentally or emotionally. He kissed the top of her head as he cradled her to him and she snuggled closer to him. She was just so sick and tired of everything, her brain was on 24 hours a day and all she wanted to do was to switch off for a while and not think. Not have to think about how to hide or where to run, or wonder how to get her family back or how to stay off the radar or where to get money. Not have to wonder whether they were going to have more trouble on the outside than in. Not wondering why Manticore suddenly decided to torch them or if they were being hunted and if she and Alec had left tracks. Not have to think about sex with Alec and their new relationship or how to deal with those feeling things that she and Drew had such issues with. Her head hurt with all the things that she didn't know and it was driving her crazy trying to keep everything straight. She just wanted to stop thinking for a while.

Alec started to sway with her in his arms and her cheek rubbed against the soft sating skin of his chest.

"I love you, Max."

Her lips curved into a smile at those whispered words and her hands tightened, pulling him closer to her hoping he could block these unwanted thoughts and make her feel.

"Love you too."

Alec picked her up and carried her to the couch, dragging her into his lap and cradling her in his strong arms.

"Talk to me."

Where to start?

"I'm scar—anxious," the words bubbled from her lips unbidden. "I lost one family and descended into hell for ten years. Now it feels that I have lost another family and I … I … I don't think I have it in me to wait another ten years. I can't lose them again." she looked up at him. "They mean too much for me to do that."

Alec bit his lip, "You miss them."

"Always. I know we've been on missions without them that lasted longer than this but without Manticore there for us to go back to, without a place for us all to call home and all be, I'm scared that we'll never all be together again. That's if they all made it out anyway." She closed her eyes. Her breathing sped up and her hands grasped tightly at him before tears started to fall. "God, Alec, who died?"

Alec hauled her closer, "No, no, no, don't think that, baby, no. Just think, Pix would have moved heaven and earth to make sure Chance got out and there is no way Biggs would let him leave with his baby sister. And he'd take Sunny so that's four," he grinned. "Knowing Biggs they probably hit Vegas and ordering strippers, having a blast."

Max chuckled as was his intention.

"Then Feen would drag Techie's ass away kicking and screaming and sequester him away in a cabin to truly terrify him."

Max nodded, tucking herself closer to him and trailing circles on his arm, "Carrot would rather die than let anything happen to Tara, and Zan was with Emma and there was no way he'd let any harm come to her. In fact he'd take her and find some of the others… maybe Aiden and Anna."

"As long as Anna wasn't with B.J. or neither of them would have made it out," he chuckled and she poked him, her lips curving in amusement. Her eyes glinted in mischief. "I hope Dek made it out okay."

Alec mock glared at her, "Damn pretty boy probably dragged Drew out with one arm whilst protecting his hair with the other."

"Fended Mets off more like!" Max slapped him and he grinned at getting her to loosen up and not be so scared of what had happened to her family.

"Hmm, yeah Drew, Dek and Mets all together. What I wouldn't give to be a fly on that wall."

"Yeah?" Max giggled. "What about Steve, Skye and Flex?"

Alec choked at the thought of placid Steve being forced to deal with Flex on a daily basis. He had Alec's sympathy.

"Coco can take care of herself," Max finished. "And Cece would be looking for you." She teased.

Alec blushed, "I can't help it if I am irresistible, Maxie!"

Max scoffed and he raised an eyebrow, "I am too!"

"Whatever you say, Monty Cora!"

He chuckled, "Oh c'mon Max, that name was stroke of genius!"

"It's drawing the wrong kind of attention, that's what it is," she said disapprovingly.

"Whose? Renfro's?"

Max shuddered at the name and turned her face away from Alec. She may be trying to get used to the more physical and tactile facet of their relationship but she didn't think she would ever be comfortable with talking about her emotions and the can of worms that the mention of Renfro opened was just too much.

The memory played as Max stiffened in Alec's lap.

_Max had screeched into the psych room, skidding on the shiny floor. She'd reached for the controls to open the basement doors. She flicked the switch and heaved a sigh when she saw the panel light up as the door bolts unlocked. She spun and turned to leave when she caught someone moving from the corner of her eye._

_She edged forward ready to tell whoever was there that they needed to get out, the facility was on fire and they needed to escape, when the door swung open._

_Max gasped in horror.___

_"Director?"___

_Renfro smirked at her in pure loathing, "Well, well, my own little traitor 452, I caught your show!" She pulled a gun from her back pocket and aimed it at Max who took a step back. "Nice piece of work, destroying their faith in command and ensuring that recapture would be impossible. I knew when you first showed that the '09er would be trouble."_

_Max eyed the gun in disgust, her hatred of the things not lessened by her arguments with Alec, "I was never a traitor."_

_"Oh really, 452?"__ Renfro laughed haughtily, "You instigated the biggest revolution and ruined decades of scientific research, you are a picture of allegiance."_

_"Lady, you're tripping!" Max held her hands up, "You are the one blowing the place up."_

_"It's your fault!" Renfro yelled, "You and your stupid Unit. Animals!" She shook the gun at Max, "I worked hard to get here 452, damn hard!"_

_Max had enough, "Oh, I'm sure that torturing kids was so rewarding, you psychopath!"_

_"I made you better soldiers!" Renfro insisted, "You are alive because of me."_

_"We were in hell because of you!" Max screamed it was so true and Renfro was making her blood boil, talking about torturing kids for a good cause._

_Was it right for them to break a five year old's legs just to see how quickly they heal? Was it right to make them crawl through the forest in a thin nightgown to see if the y could? Was it right that they were forced to have sex with people that they didn't want to, just in case it happened in the field? Was any of this fair?_

_"If we were so god-damned important why the hell are you torching the place?"_

_"It's the data that's important!" Renfro yelled, "You are just meat to me 452," she pulled a computer disk out of her pocket, "This is what is important, with this I can start over anywhere."_

_Her tone made Max swallow hard, she wanted to throw up. They were just meat?_

_"Then what did you need us for?" Alec said distracting her and Max took the advantage to twist the gun out of her hands._

_Renfro gaped as the tables were neatly turned on her. "Now, now, 452, you won't get anywhere with this!"_

_"It's Max, you bitch!" Max hissed furious beyond expression; the word Meat dancing in her brain. "I'm just **meat** to you, what the hell should I care what I do now. According to you we're animals."_

_Renfro swallowed, "You don't understand. It was his idea, Sandeman. He needed to do this to prove to them."_

_"Uh, not to break a good soliloquy but we have to go unless we want to be char-grilled," Alec insisted._

_Max glared at the woman who had been responsible for so much suffering, from sending Alec to Psy-Ops and ordering him to kill Rachel down to the sadistic seduction program. Her eyes had glittered in triumph as her chosen victims had to kiss and caress. She had mocked as they came out of Psy-Ops and had gloated when they completed missions. She had lorded herself over them at every opportunity and she had revelled in her power over them. To her they were meat. Pix's jokes were legendary but he was meat. Sunny's mommy-ing was comfort but she was meat. Flex's teasing, Cece's complaining, Dek's bad boy persona, Chance's insecurities… they were all just meat._

_Max had always thought that Lydecker was the devil, but he, at least, wanted them safe. She was, if not evil, then pretty close Max had never hated anyone as much as she hated Renfro._

_She had flipped the switch to kill them all without blinking an eyelid._

_Alec twitched, "Max?"_

_"What are you going to do, 452?" Renfro smirked, "Shoot first and ask questions later?"_

_"There was nothing I wanted to ask."_

_One shot._

_Renfro's face went slack as she'd fallen to the floor, blood seeping from her temple, pooling around her head like a macabre halo._

Max still couldn't believe that it had been her who had pulled the trigger, no matter how much she hated that bitch.

Max's hang-up about guns had never really gone away and she didn't like the thought that, soldier or not, she could so callously kill an unarmed woman. Then, of course, she would remember that Renfro wasn't some helpless woman but a heartless bitch in need of a reality check and the unease would fade—slightly.

"Maxie?" Alec was looking intently at her again and she returned to the conversation.

"No, I know that Renfro can't get to us, but that doesn't mean that the rest of them aren't out to get us, Alec. Manticore wasn't run by that heinous bitch and there are more demons in hell than just her. Plus what about those others that got out, Joshua isn't going to be able to walk into a restaurant and get a job as a waitress. How is he and some of the others—the nomalies—supposed to eat and survive. Sooner or later they'll get exposed and then we have humans after us."

"Big deal," Alec smirked. "We're stronger than they are."

"But there are more of them," she pointed out soberly.

He watched her eyes as they regarded him sincerely. When Max had been declared CO he had been slightly jealous and resentful at having to follow her, after all he was just as good as her in most subjects and even excelled in some, what was so special about her leadership? But in time he had seen the way her mind worked, the way she calculated every instance to come up with the best plan, not just for command and the mission but for her soldiers too. She was the best kind of CO the one who cared for those under her as much as those handing her the orders. She garnered respect through her actions and Alec knew that she would always make the right choice at the right time. Breaking out of Manticore had been the right choice and letting the others loose was something that should have been done, including those in the basement, even if they were scared of them. he knew Max, respected her and understood her and knew that what she was going through was just insecurities borne out of being in a new situation. All she needed was his understanding and his support.

Alec shook his head, "All the 'what ifs' in the world won't help. We are soldiers first and foremost, we plan and we execute and we survive. That's what we do. That's what _you_ do." he leaned down to look into her eyes. "You make the plan, Max, I'll follow you. Whatever you do, whatever you want, whatever you need. I'll follow you."

Max felt her heart swell as her breath caught in her throat. He trusted her and he believed in her and her choices. She couldn't find the words and so she leaned up, pouring her emotions into the kiss that made their toes curl and their breaths hitch.

Max drew away slightly and rested her forehead against his, "Thank you."

"Any time."

Max pulled back further and stared into the distance for a moment. Alec quietly waiting for her to decided what to do.

"Find them," she said quietly. Decisively. "We can go to the club and use part of the money that we both make, you fighting and me betting on you, and we can find them."

Max stood up and began to pace, her mind working as she thought up a plan. "They'll come when we give the code word but we need someplace secure, someplace where we can all be together without fear or prejudice. We need to find somewhere big enough for us all."

"A city?" Alec chuckled dryly and Max nodded.

"An apartment complex or an abandoned part of the world, anywhere. But first we find those who are in Seattle, some are bound to have stayed. We get those and they help to make more money. We can then go further a field in finding somewhere secure."

Alec grinned as her eyes sparkled with her plan. It was a good idea for them to have that, somewhere they could call home and it was good for Max to have something to focus on.

"So we need money, does that mean that I get to stay in the cage fighting business?"

Max felt her lips curve at his innocent tone, "Yes." His eyes danced with childish glee and he pulled her down into his lap for another lingering kiss.

-----------------------------------------

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aleclovemax- Shaking with happiness?? Wow go me!

Ellenemi- maybe you should seek counselling for your new addiction… or give in and read more fic.

Aisling- Yeah I was getting way too many death threats and pleading letters to let my break be too long! Oh yeah it is driving me crazy- easier to remember being called Pressing Onwards though!

Kat461- Probably as long as I have been writing it! White is delicious isn't he?

Sigma1- Part 3 of a series… part 3a I suppose then—that works for me. Thank you!

GivenAlias- Sequel to sequel… I so need my head examining. I think objectively that White really was good looking.

Ronda TIW- I like to start as I meant to go on! Thank you for joining the Dadiscussion board and feel free to offer constructive criticism!

Angel of Darkness- Thank you, I seriously have to remember to update there more often! I'll update faster now that I am home again.

Geminangel- Here they are and ooh Alec looses his shirt aren't I good to you?

Restive nature- he makes the perfect villain doesn't he? glad that it feels similar without actually being boring, the new feel I hope will continue here.

Mrs- I said that who wants an email for the new story should send me an email with their address on it. If you sent me one and I didn't reply then sorry!

Annabelle- LOL, please don't wet yourself! Don't want much do ya? I'll see what I can do.

Alexceasar- are you happy by any chance? J so glad that I could make your day. Wow you must have read them all so fast, more soon for you!

Feenian- what do you mean finally? It hasn't been that long surely!

Amanda- Aw thank you pet, glad that you enjoyed it so much, sorta sorry for making you cry but not really as that was my intention. More soon.

Lynn- I take that hug and give you one back. I adore White as a bad guy and think that he makes a great addition to the story. Hope you like it.

Bluejean452- Yep here they are in all their glory Max and Alec!

Tiffany- Wow, all in one sitting? I bet you had a headache but I am glad that you joined us in this. Please continue and enjoy this and its parallel.

Ang1-0 Cheers pet, so glad that you liked it.

Maxie- Get some sleep now and I'll post again soon. I wouldn't let you down like that, I had to do a new story!

Aur- Thank you very much, see this one had M/A in it.

Volleyball- setter- LOL, I take it that you are impressed then? It was a gentle segue into the full story but everyone has to love White. Who is your friend? Does he/she review too? Love your happy dance and hope to see you soon.

Lozz422- Oh yeah Max and Alec had better watch out because White is coming to get 'em.

Crimsonshadoe- I don't think this will be updated as fast and as often but I will try to post at least once a fortnight. The MAL sequel is called Pressing Onwards, mainly because having MAH and MAL I got confused so SF and PO is so much easier.

Snortablesniffy- You're welcome darlin', so glad that it inspires this kind of reaction still! I hope you enjoy it!

Melys the name- yup had to, was going crazy and so now I can share the madness!

Babygrl35- of course they are, I would do that to you twice J

Natacup82- What's life without a challenge?

Lynn- I rock! Yay me!

XxInsanityxX- Sorry you had a bad week, hope this one will be better.

Nevanroy- Thank you! Much excitement on its way and more fun.

Raven- prompt… possibly not but damn lengthy—yes!

Ting- wait no longer, here is more.

Tiggi- sorry you are so worried about Drew, read the other story to make sure that she is okay! And yes two more stories (what am I doing?)

Fangedangel- I know! Can you believe it! And that was for a short piece that didn't even have M/A in it! sheepish you can probably tell that I have a soft spot for Ames White huh?

Anon- thank you very much.

Poo- yeah I have to keep my fans and devoted cult members happy! Max and White action???

Natasgi- How do you think I felt? YAY more Max/Alec, NO I have to write them, YAY two stories… what do I mean Yay? I'm going to go crazy.

Melinda- that they are! How are your exams going? Aw bless ya that is so sweet of you to say! I promise I wont leave this for a year--- I wouldn't do that to you she says ignoring cries of 'Coming to terms'

Ricter- that she is and raring to go… sort of. Enjoy!

Black Rose9- if you can't believe it and I can't believe it then what I am I doing??

Moonangel18- well done you. Ooh the plot twists and mixed signal and subterfuge, additional characters and all... wait and see!

Lynsi- Thanks for the dance! Wow great praise thank you very much. It is a huge series and I am so jazzed that you like it as much as the actual show. More soon so you can catch up with them all.

FaerieSaga- Won't have to wait long, love.

Nora- LOL, you are most welcome pet.

Honey00- close, Max and Alec are having fun but not dancing. luckily I'm not making you decide as I am writing them both- look for updates soon.

Kristibella- Eesh my sister has just done her A levels and she is glad that they are over… so am I, it means I can get back to my computer. White is a great bad guy isn't he? I always adored him! Oh I granted your wish too… somewhere in chapter 2 I think.

Cesium- yup sequel. Gone crazy… back soon

Shyleigh3- I am back and love to hear from you, thanks for the review!

ontheDL- wow that is a lot of reading! I always see it as a motion picture in my head and am glad that it was that vivid for you too. I love White- I think that is going to become apparent too!

Lor- aww don't worry, I wouldn't let you down.

Cece- thank you sweetie, hope that it meets expectations!

Lyndsay- sorry you had a crappy day honey, hope that things have gotten better.

Messymissy- I know, I can't believe it! I am so grateful that people love this story that much, I am so privileged! Lol, hopefully this won't go into the 30 odd chapters!!

Elfie- I couldn't stay away long. Yep Otto is in there too but if you check out Designate this, White spent most of the first ep talking to another guy. I haven't decided about the personnel yet, I have enough characters with the X's! I'll have an in-depth look into White physiology just for you… ahem. More very soon.

Stormvind- hey babe- love you too, glad that you like it1

Miasalter- he does make sense doesn't he? and so cute at the same time.

Talichernin- that I am and so is he, say hi to Ames.

Kim- hehe 72 for a prologue- that is kinda neat! Ames has a huge role- coz I like the guy.

Moonlite star- yup sequelised myself again! hey another White fan- go us!

Arwen-amy- that's okay pet, how is school? What year are you in now?

Laure- aww thank you very much. I know I have at least 72! grin

SGOU- that you did and wow, thank you for the long review I am so glad that I am able to illicit responses like that in people. I know how much I enjoy writing and that it can make someone else feel that good is a great buzz.

Crazy- Vampire Slayer- I hope so too! Thank you for the review pet. (lemme guess, big Buffy fan?)

Em- I know I teased but I wont do it again, please keep reading and I'll make it worth your while—see naked Alec!

Senorita DHL- always glad to make someone's day! Both sides of the story is hard but fun to do!

Faith Spencer- thanks darlin' hope you like the next part too.

Lotamoxie- more soon, thank you.

Ganko- Long awaited, aww you made me blush! Big ass bear hug back atcha!!

Guest Type Person- Hey there welcome to the sequel of the.. yes we get that part already. Hope that you like Moving Alongside as well as Moving Ahead and get to love the other characters as much as we did.

La Vito- I am evil, we established this when I killed certain people off at the end of the last story. Its fun to do that.

adoraia- Thank you very much, i am so glad that you are enjoying the series, it is hard to write that much and often but worthwhile when people let me know that they genuinely like what it is that i am writing about. Thank you again.

ALSO VIA EMAIL-

Sylvia- thank you pet for that great long email- you rock!

Choasti- as always my faithful reviewer who lets me know what is what. More than 100 needed methinks although the quote for the day was sweet.

Suzanne Ackerly- once again thank you sweetheart-


	3. 2 Past and Present

**A/N- Short and sweet, but I kinda liked this one. It explains a lot that might have been missed or queried. Enjoy and remember to tip your waitress.**

**The next chapter includes one of our fave guys!!!!!**

**Please check out the Broken world awards or if you want to talk go to DAdiscussion on yahoo groups.**

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**PLEASE REVIEW**

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**Chapter 2- Past and Present**

Ames White hated to be left waiting. It ranked right up there with transgenics and humus on his list of things he hated. His inept bunch of 'helpers' had been unable to find what he wanted on this transgenic bitch 452 and to make matters worse, his superiors had told him that they were sending someone from the committee to help him.

Manticore had been a large government project that hadn't been as secret as they often made out. It was supported and funded by monies diverted from several arenas of public health and safety and also private investors within the US; not to mention the large dividend from the Defence budget. The aim, to make the ultimate super-solder that would defend its country against all who attempt to invade through a perfect blend of human and animal DNA that encompasses the best traits of all, was an ambitious aim and the fact that they actually succeeded was nothing more than miraculous. They all knew that to let this technology out to their enemies was unthinkable and the facilities were locked down to none but those of highest authority.

As a result the three facilities—Seattle, Wyoming and Atlanta—were matters of national interest and security. What went on there was highly classified and subject to approval from the committee, which was a group of men and women chosen to oversee the project and ensure that the results of its experiments were satisfactory. This included not letting any information, about the questionable methods used to achieve their aims, leak. They knew what methods their ascribed Directors went through to achieve the aim of the perfect fighting machine and they looked the other way despite the horrific rumours that some staff passed onto the committee.

When the 12 escaped in '09 the committee leaders, spearheaded by the DOD's own leader, Colonel Michael Hamersley, were of a mind to scrap the whole project, for fear that the American public would balk at the huge financial and moral ethics that surrounded the training and preparation of the soldiers. Colonel Lydecker had stood in front of the committee and brandished his twisted logic that the escape was an indication of their success. Those who escaped were no older than ten years old, the youngest was eight, and they were able to out-run, out-gun, and out-manoeuvre those with over fifty years of military experience. Plus they were so difficult to find because they could blend in with the people on the outside—no one would suspect that sweet little boy of being a trained killer—and if they had only a few years training, imagine what the American government could achieve with those who had had twice that.

The committee relented and left the facility, advising those in charge to be more austere and intensify the discipline that had obviously been lacking.

The pulse had actually been a blessing for the committee as people no longer cared about the governments spending, or lack thereof and they were heavily in favour of anything that could safeguard them whilst their country lay open and vulnerable to attack.

Things had been progressing smoothly, until a few weeks ago Eyes Only had broadcast the very thing that the had feared—exposure – and the position of the base in Seattle.

Lock down was immediately in effect and they wanted to evacuate the transgenics to another facility. But something had gone wrong and that something was Director Elizabeth Renfro. Instead of setting up adequate evacuation procedures she ordered the lock down to be immediate and the site to be cauterised—before they could evacuate, effectively wiping out their years of production. The committee had long wondered at their decision to have her as their designated leader of Seattle but she was fairer and paid very little attention to the actual transgenics rather than adopt the disciplinarian front that Lydecker and Loughran often did, choosing to become almost fatherly with their charges. Maybe their unease spread from her long time relationship with the father of the technology, Richard Sandeman. Sandeman had grown increasingly uneasy with their use of certain… techniques, to keep his creations in check and had resigned under protest of the first Psychological Operations and observations deck. He had been a great loss. Some theorised that Renfro was in league with Sandeman and had been encouraged by him to rather destroy his creations rather than allow them to continue to 'suffer', a mercy killing. But others negated that saying that Renfro's heart was as legendary as the Holy Grail… and about as easy to find. Whatever her reasons they were looking at a mass scale of security breach and Michael Hamersley had requested that his CIA bring in those who were missing- alive or dead, it didn't matter at this juncture. The DNA and possible exposure was the important thing.

Ames White's instruction was the find them and bring them in; if they cooperated, then to bring them in alive to be distributed to the other two facilities. If they were… reluctant, then they were to be killed. They could not allow insubordination and an independent, rebellious spirit to flourish in the Project and possibly cause another '09 incident.

White had every intention of following their instructions… after a fashion. After all, what _they_ didn't know wouldn't hurt _him_.

----

Max traced her fingers on the dark stains of the wooden table in front of her. She was bored. She glanced up briefly at Alec's arms raised in triumph and the crowds screams and catcalls as the 'superfly' groaned from his position on the floor.

_Huh, so Alec had left this one conscious. That was new._

She dredged up a smile for when his eyes searched for her in the darkness of the club and his little boy glee filled his eyes. He was really enjoying himself, which was great.

She wasn't.

It wasn't that she didn't enjoy the time that she spent with Alec; she did love the guy after all. It was just that her idea of a great time wasn't to sit in some smoky, cloying bar with hundreds of sweaty men and watch Alec beat them up whilst she stole their money. Okay, if she was doing the fighting, things would be different, but they didn't allow female fighting here and she was bored.

Two weeks.

It had been two weeks since she and Alec had strolled into this place and they had been back every night since, except Sundays which, apparently, was a holy day in which they had naked mud wrestling on TV instead. Two weeks of mindlessly watching men beat each other up and lose money. Two weeks of having the same drink at the same table whilst the same guys got drunk and threw up. There was only so often that you could steal a guy's wallet while he's drunk before it starts to get boring.

Alec bowed to the cheering crowds and tumbled out of the ring. She knew from experience that it would take more than ten minutes for him to make his way through the legions of fans and fan-girls before he would come over to her.

She traced the sticky drink rings again and tapped her nails on the bar. She heard stifled giggling and rolled her eyes as two highly drunk women sat behind her. She glanced at them in the mirror over the bar. Both blonde with manicured eyebrows and too much make-up, they sat side by side giggling at each other. From her vantage point Max could see right down one's blouse and knew that practically every male in the room and especially those at the bar could, and were staring too.

"Oh he is, like, sooo hot!" One squealed and Max wondered if every dog in the near vicinity was wincing along with her.

"Yeah, oh wow, Christy, I swear he winked at me!"

"Nuh uh! It was at me."

Max fought back the urge to laugh at the two women acting like children over some guy.

"Oh when he knocked out that last guy and his muscles rippled, I swear I was about to drool."

Max straightened. _What?_

"He has the cutest ass."

"Yeah, could you imagine grabbing that in bed as you screamed, Monty Cora?"

Max's mouth slammed shut and her eyes narrowed. These girls were talking about bedding Alec. _Her Alec?___

"Do you suppose that's his real name?"

"Does it matter?" they both started giggling again and Max felt her temper rise with every squeal. Why was she so annoyed with this? She usually thought it was funny if someone else was lusting after Alec. She knew that he loved her and that there was no way anyone else could or would tempt him. But maybe it was because she wasn't comfortable totally with being with him in a relationship as opposed to a friendship that she was so insecure. None of the transgenics had ever been completely comfortable with emotions and feelings, having had no real instruction on how to deal with them. More often than not they were told that soldiers didn't need emotions and they were to put them aside to focus on their missions. Now that was too late to rectify and they had to muddle through as best they could. It was a pain and it also meant that they were going to get some things wrong that, she assumed, humans their age would already be aware of.

Things that these girls were already aware of.

Max looked down at the drink in her hand, and slowly released her grip when she realised that splinter cracks were appearing in the glass.

"Oh my god, he's coming over! I told you he was winking at me."

At those words Max found the tension in her back easing slightly, Alec was coming over, was he? Fair enough.

She half turned in her seat and watched as he sauntered over, a grin on his face as he acknowledged the various well-wishers and congratulatory slaps.

He nodded to someone at one side and then he turned to look at Max and it was like the whole world faded away to just them. His eyes lit up and he didn't even see the two women giggling at her side. He didn't notice the man in glasses wave to him, nor the buxom redhead that passed by with a tray. His eyes were all for Max like she was the whole world.

Damn, it was a good feeling.

He moved closer and closer until he was almost leaning over her and he gave her a slow, lazy smile.

"Hey, you."

"Hey, yourself," Max smiled. "Good night?"

"Better now," he leaned down and swiped his lips over hers. Max felt her own lips curl at his soft spoken words.

She blinked lazily at him, "Hmm, nice."

Alec laughed, "Just nice?"

Max glanced over his shoulder to see those two girls glaring daggers at her and she smirked, grabbing a fistful of Alec's shirt and tugging him in closer. She fused their lips together in a passionate kiss; trying to make him aware of the feelings she had for him without actually having to say the words. Alec's hand came up and tangled his fingers in her hair, pulling her head back to deepen the kiss.

Max moaned into his mouth and was rewarded by Alec's little shiver of contentment.

She grinned as she pulled away. "Now that was more than 'nice'."

"Hell, yeah." Alec's voice was husky and his eyes dark. And then he suddenly smiled sheepishly. "Uh Max, I just told Annie I'd work tomorrow night."

Max straightened in irritation, "But Alec, you said that you had tomorrow off, we were going to start looking for the others."

He held up his hands, "I know, I know, and I'm sorry but there was something that came up."

"Came up?" she snapped. "Excuse me if my family is more important to me than something that 'came up'."

Alec bit his lip, "It's not like that, Maxie, see this guy who is supposed to be fighting tomorrow offered me something to make me do it."

Max pushed her hair away from her face. She couldn't believe that he was giving up his day off when he had promised to look for their family with her.

As she sighed and looked at his sheepish expression, she wondered if he was as concerned about the others as she was. She knew that they would be all right on the outside, after all they were trained to be able to fit in and function in society but she would feel better having them by her side. That way she could keep an eye on Pix's mischief, Emma's empathy and Chance's insecurities. She could watch out for Carrot and Tara and discuss things with Drew. Dammit, she missed them!

But it felt as if Alec didn't care.

"Fine," she bit off pulling her arm away from his. "I'll go myself."

He frowned, "You're not coming to the fight?"

"No."

"Max, don't be mad," he pleaded. "At least wait until I tell you why I changed."

"Why?"

Alec's eyes lit up and he grabbed her hand, "C'mon."

Max sighed and allowed herself to be dragged away, ignoring the glares from the two girls by her side as he pulled her through the smoky bar.

Alec smiled back at the annoyed look on her face and chuckled inwardly. She may be irritated right now but he knew that as soon as he showed her what he had exchanged his night off for she would be beaming and giggling. Which had been the reason that he had done it, despite the wrath he knew he would incur originally; to see that smile on her face and the sparkle in her eye when she saw it. That glimmer of life had been conspicuously absent in the past few weeks and he missed it. He knew that she missed the rest of the unit and wanted them back. Alec missed them, too, but he was having fun on the outside and knew that they would be as well. Their freedom was something that they'd want to play with before settling down and becoming accustomed to life without the harsh rigidity of Manticore.

He pushed the door to the bar and pulled her into the alley behind the club.

"Alec?" her voice rose in inquiry and he smirked at her impatience.

"Close your eyes," he said impishly and she sighed heavily. "Humour me."

Max closed her eyes and he moved aside and took her hands in his placing them down.

Max frowned as her fingers touched a cold smooth metal surface. She ran her hand up the elegant curve of the metal and felt raised bumps of words engraved into the surface. Alec's fingers let go of hers and she carried on her exploration as her fingertips danced over cold metal and soft, supple leather. The smell of motor oil filled her nostrils and her eyes snapped open as the gasp fled her lips.

"Oh, Alec!"

A midnight black Kawasaki Ninja motorcycle with ebony and chrome detailing and a dipped leather seat, curved windshield, shiny silver exhaust and silver plated wheels. It was beautiful, it was special and it was hers.

His smile was almost as wide as hers at the delight in her eyes.

"You remembered?"

Alec nodded as he came up behind her and slipped his arms around her waist, nuzzling into her neck.

"Yeah, I remember everything about you."

Her breath caught in her throat as she turned and brought her lips up to his in a passionate kiss. His teeth tugging on her bottom lip as her hands grasped his hair. He took a step forward and Max felt her new present at her back, her mind reeling back to the first sighting.

The morning had been a dull grey as they all had hung about, standing close to ward off the chill of the dreary drizzle that spat from the sky. It had been neither raining nor dry, just a kind of damp mist that covered everything and made for annoyed moods.

Max had stood in the courtyard with the rest of Special Ops as they waited for Trainer Reilly to come out.

"This rain is playing havoc with my hair!" Sunny pouted and Flex nodded.

"Yeah, you can see it going all curly at the ends."

Sunny shrieked and covered her dead straight hair with her hands.

"He's teasing," Anna said with a roll of her eyes. "Really, your hair is fine."

Sunny glared at Flex who held out his hands in innocence.

Max shook her head in amusement and leaned her head back. Zan came up behind her and slid his hands around her waist, his chin on her shoulder.

"Bored Max?"

"Oh yeah," she said. "Why they feel that they have to keep us waiting to instil discipline is way beyond me."

"Patience is a virtue," Alec sang as he came closer, glaring at Zan who just poked his tongue out and pulled Max closer.

"So's chastity," Dek drawled as he waltzed over and grabbed Max's hand. "But I wouldn't want that, would you Max?"

Max blushed as she remembered crawling into Dek's lap during her last heat episode. His soft hair under her fingers and his heartbeat under her cheek.

"No," she said quietly and they shared a conspiratorial grin. Alec glared at Dek and folded his arms over his chest.

"Oh yeah?"

"Children," Sunny's voice was lilting in its sing-song tone as she admonished the burgeoning argument between the men. "Behave!"

"What are we waiting around for anyway?" Drew snapped. "This is valuable time I could be using at the range."

"Like you need it, Miss Control Freak."

There was brief silence.

"Who engaged Anna's mouth _without _consulting her brain?" B.J. asked.__

Drew folded her arms and glared at Anna was had the decency to look sheepish.

"What was that?"

"Whoa, whoa, time out!" Flex said as he causally stepped in front of the two girls. "Trainer Reilly is on his way over and I don't think you want him interrupting a cat fight, when it could wait until later when we could _all_ enjoy it."

"FLEX!"

"Such a shame Pix had to miss this," sighed Aiden. "He's been on about learning to drive for a while now."

"Yes, well. If he does insist on super gluing the staff toilet door closed he pretty much deserves what he gets," Carrot said as he thumb-wrestled with Mets.

"Yeah but c'mon," Alec grinned, "putting heavy laxative in the staff coffee jar first was a pretty classy move."

"That boy has a sick mind," said Aiden sadly trying to hide his smirk.

"Are we done chatting?"

The arrival of the Trainer made them all snap to attention, fourteen pairs of feet stamping on the hard ground in unison.

"Sir!" they barked and he nodded.

"We'll move along to the garage. I understand that you had several lessons on the theory behind driving a few years ago. Well today I will test your recall and your ability to put those lessons into action."

He led them across the cold courtyard over to the compound where the garages were kept full of all mechanical equipment.

They had been in several times to dismantle or study the machinery within and were quite familiar with most of the vehicles within. Trainer Reilly took them over to a corner that they hadn't been in before and followed him through a new door.

"All right, people," he began. "X5- 633 can you tell me what car this is?"

"A red one?" hissed B.J. and Max elbowed him as her eyes cast around the room full of different vehicles, four-wheel drives and motor-homes to funny three wheeled cars and sports cars.

"Yes sir," Drew said. "It's a Nissan Micra, produced in the late part of the 20th century—possible early 21st."

"Well done, now what we…" he trailed off as the door swung open and a dishevelled tech walked in.

"Sorry to interrupt, sir. But Director Renfro requires your presence now that Colonel Lydecker has arrived."

Max's ears perked up at the fact that Lydecker had arrived.

"I'm teaching."

"She was insistent," said the nervous tech.

"Oh, all right," Trainer Reilly groaned. "All of you look around at the different types of vehicle and check over their specifications."

He stalked out after the tech and the door slammed shut behind him.

Drew spun and punched B.J. "I was trying not to laugh, Jerk!"

"Ow!" B.J. rubbed his arm and pouted. "Witch."

Max shook her head and wandered around the cars glancing over the controls and contours as the others bickered and teased each other, deciding to chat rather than follow the lesson plan.

Max suddenly stopped dead and her breath left her in one long gasp.

"Max?"

"Maxie, you okay?"

The others rushed over to where she stood in rapt silence.

Alec touched her arm, "Maxie?"

Max whimpered and broke out of his grasp to take three staggering steps and fall to her knees.

"Oh you beautiful baby," she ran her hands over the polished black metal of the motorcycle and crooned quietly to it. "Gorgeous girl, you are so amazing."

They stared in shock as Max trailed her fingers over the chrome handlebars and wing mirrors before trailing back to the shiny exhaust and leather seat.

Alec swallowed hard as her dainty but strong hands massaged the silver words inlayed on the side and tumbled over the keys in the ignition. He shifted on his feet and half-turned to Dek. "Tell me; is it wrong to be jealous of a motorbike?"

"Only if it's wrong to wish you were one," Dek shot back.

Max turned, her eyes shiny and sparkling, "Oh isn't she the most beautiful thing you've ever seen?"

"Yes," whispered Alec as he stared down at Max.

"I want one!" Max stated as she stood up.

"Ditto," said Zan avoiding Alec's sharp look.

"That kind of contraband might be difficult to hide under your bed," Sunny said diplomatically and some of the light in Max's eyes died.

"I know," she had sighed. "But I've never seen anything so perfect."

She had bitten her lip, "I have to find a way to ride this."

"We'll help," Drew had said decisively after seeing the raw desire in her friend's face.

When Trainer Reilly had returned from his meeting he was met by the straight faced transgenics who informed him that, although they were familiar with the mechanics of driving a car, they were unaware of how to ride a motorcycle and believed it would be beneficial if they could observe one of their Unit showing them how it was done.

Oh, and by the way X5-452 recently read a book on how to do it, might she try?

Max grinned into Alec's shoulder as she remembered her first giddy ride around the courtyard on that motorbike. Hands down it was the best experience of her life and now here Alec was handing her the opportunity to do it all again.

"Thank you," she whispered into his ear as she leaned in closer, her arms tight around his waist inhaling the soft scent of his leather jacket mixed with the smoke from the bar that they had just left. Cigarettes and leather was fast becoming an addictive combination.

Alec leaned down and pressed his lips to her hair, "glad you like it." His voice grew husky as he asked, "wanna go for a ride?"

Max's eyes danced as she slunk her hand into his pocket and pulled out the keys, "Oh, yeah."

----

Alec turned over in bed and looked down at a sleeping Max. She was so sweet when she was out like that and it wasn't often that he got to see her at her most vulnerable, thanks to her Shark DNA, which enabled her to spend more time than ever awake. She was always up before him and he very rarely got to see her lulled into sleep. Her long dark lashes making half moons on her cheeks and her hair spread over the pillow like a dark halo, she was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen and in the darkness she was also the most ethereal. He could see the straps of her long nightshirt as she shifted in her sleep and it reminded him of the current status of their relationship. In love but not lovers. Soul-mates but no sex. Made for each other but not mates.

He sighed and his hand drifted above her satiny cheek knowing that if he was to so much as graze that alabaster skin with his fingertips she would awaken like sleeping beauty and his surveillance would be broken and that would be a shame because he so adored watching her when she wasn't aware of it.

He knew that she was worn out from the joy of the ride that they had taken that night on her new toy. The new toy that she loved to distraction. He had seen it in her eyes when she had first caught sight of the bike; it was love, pure and simple and for that split second he had been almost jealous. Until, that is, she turned that gaze to include him and it had almost stolen his breath.

He knew, logically, that she loved him. He had proof of it in that she was with him and had taken the time and trouble to be with him. He knew it in his heart, but Max had never been an overly demonstrative person and he could count on the fingers of one hand the amount of times that she had said it. That may have made the words that much more special but nothing had driven it home than the way she had looked at him when he had given her gift.

Equals parts amazement and love and it had blown him away. That one look made up for all the times when he doubted her and her affections for him.

Alec smiled down at her and gently tucked himself around her softly breathing form. He knew at times that Max had been more than exasperated with his disinterest at looking for his erstwhile family, but the truth was that, for once, he wanted her all to himself. He wanted Max to have her undivided attention on him and not have to have it divided as she laughed with Pix, or hugged Dek or mothered Chance or a million and one other ways her attention was taken away from him. For once, he wanted Max all to himself and that was why he wasn't more concerned for his Unit. It was a selfish thought, especially for a squad leader and Unit CO, and it wasn't a thought that he was particularly proud of, but that wouldn't stop him this time.

This was his Max and he was going to keep her.

* * *

_Lynsi__- Nah, not weeks, will Max find Carrot and __Logan__? Hmm, not telling!_

_A.K.A Annabelle- hey more happy dances! Love that. I'll get typing, feel free to relieve your bladder before you start to read!_

_Natacup82- hey sweets, awesomeness? Make it a word, I like it!_

_Restive nature- LOL, snortable tea?__ Maybe I should put a warning up about drinking whilst reading? I like being able to tie in important events that the fan would know but putting a new spin on it for the newbies or those who didn't like it first time around._

_Geminangel__- Max cage-fighting?__ Mmm._

_SnortableSniffy__- I'm learning. My old cliff-hangers made people write death threats about me being mean and evil. It was fun for me but less for you guys._

_Angel of Darkness231- aww, I only got 44 for this last one though, my record is over 100 for one chapter—which was amazing! Hugs._

_Jade-K- Aw bless ya. Thanks angel and I promise that more will be up soon._

_TiffanyAnn__- I made you stay in? hope you weren't going anywhere important! More soon, and I hope you like that._

_Faith Spencer- I think Max and Alec are far more equal than most writers allow them to be. I adore the character of Max- which I think you can tell. I'd pay to see him topless._

_Sigma1- yeah okay the series is fun and seems to be enjoyed which is great. You know how much I love giving my characters issues. Like I do anything else!_

_Dokushoka79- ah pet t has been a while hasn't it? Long time indeed. Missed ya and hope that you get computer time sorted out again soon. I love White._

_Lozz422- for the 09ers you need to go to Pressing Onwards. This is strictly M/A and White's domain._

_Raven- I'll try to post faster but I do have two to write and plots to have too!_

_Volleyball-Setter- I would hope that the required stuff is just as fun, you made me laugh with what you said about reading in class. Poor teach, tell him its educational!_

_Nevanroy__- More more more soon. Promise. As for no one else dying, I cant promise that I'm afraid but at this point I have no plans for more deaths._

_Fangedangel__- Let them know what you are doing, it's like reading but fun! Feel free to squeal._

_Anon-Yeah some of S2 was okay so I'll be using bits._

_OntheDL__- I do like White, he was a great bad guy and quite cute with it too. Thanks for telling me the bits that you liked the most, let me know what to add more of. Naked Alec it seems._

_Silk- Max ands Alec shared it for the most part but Max was more of the leader whilst Alec made sure that orders were followed through. By the end Max was the sole CO with Alec in reserve or as 2IC._

_Lyndsay__- Lydecker? Your wish is my command, watch this space and in all his evil glory._

_Shyleigh3- J Yup Alec is back and you got OC here!_

_Feenian__- Thank you sweets, glad you like ti still._

_Adoria__- Zack, Alec and Ben in a room all Naked…. sigh _

_GivenAlias__- LOL, oh you know me so well. Even if they don't meet just yet there is plenty to keep you amused._

_Guest type person- He is adorable isn't he?_

_Natasgi__- it is a struggle, as you probably have guessed by the length between updates. As long as people love my work I will keep writing. Thank you sweetheart._

_SGOU- Originally the two stories were amalgamated into one but can you imagine how long the chapters would have been in that was the case? Oh no, Max is way sensible and lets loose more than her unit is aware. She just likes to keep them in check! Argh, will people stop looking into crystal balls! It makes keeping things a secret that much harder grin ._

_XxInsanityxX__- LOL, check out the next chapter for you complete list of favours. Aren't I good to you?_

_Ricter__- hehe, 116 already that is so great!_

_Kristibella__- Nah my sis has decided Uni isn't for her which is a shame because I loved it. How did you're a levels go?_

_Jynx__- LOL, don't blame it one me! Hey make your teacher into an addict and then he/she'll suspend classes to read fic!_

_Honey00- trip was bad but I'm home now which is good. More soon._

_Kim- I don't want them to be too together just yet, after all they only kissed a few weeks ago. But things are progressing nicely as far as I'm concerned._

_Mrs- that he did, cute Alec!_

_Tyna__- Hey sweets, glad to see that you are still following. Thank you for being so dedicated and I hope it still holds your interest!_

_Messymissy__- Oh White has his work cut out for him now! its all fun and games until… well you'll see. As for Alec being jealous of Dek—OOOH!_

_Moonlite__ Star- Yup, they'll all be about that long now… I hope!_

_Lotamoxie__- See the other facilities are mentioned here- you ask and I obey. The series had its good points and it is a great reference point for timeline too._

_Ganko__- great to hear from you as always! More soon._

_Elfie__- Huh?__ Where did it say that? Well I added our fave bad guy here so you can see his motivation. I think that despite the boys being mated and whatever they'd still have appreciation for the female form. They are men after all._

_Carebear369369- It was a very Max line. Drew gets some great ones later. Coming to terms update? Didn't you get that?_

_Arwen-amy__- Funny you should mention the new pairings, I aim to fulfil a few fantasies in this story! Watch this space. Well done for the straight A's pet!_


	4. 3 All work and no play

**A/N- ****hey to everyone who reads this. Glad to see you still with me. This chapter is a little bit of deliciousness for my faithful readers who requested certain "traditional" elements. And the return of a certain bad guy that we all know and adore.**

**Check out the Broken World awards and vote for DA fic. Or if you want to discuss stuff go to DAdiscussion on yahoo groups.**

**PLEASE REVIEW.**

**

* * *

Chapter 3 All work and No Play.**

Max walked down the street sidestepping the throngs of people on their way to work. She'd left the apartment shortly after she'd woken up. Sometimes having Shark DNA really sucked; especially when Alec worked at night in that fight club and fell asleep as soon as he got home. She'd catch a few hours and be awake while he slept until early afternoon, in time to spend an hour or so with her, before going back to the club.

She was left to her own devices during the day and more and more so at night since she quickly tired of watching Alec beat everyone in sight. Even betting on him lost its appeal after a few nights. The smoke from the club got to her and the hands grabbing at her ass made her sick.

When she told Alec he just laughed and said that he couldn't blame them, since he loved to touch her himself, besides she could certainly take care of herself.

It was true but that wasn't the point.

It wasn't that she was a girly girl and wanted her man to protect her or anything, it was simply that she wanted him to understand her point of view that while, yes she enjoyed watching him fight, she was bored.

Of course, Alec said that he understood and that he would probably be bored too if he had to watch, unless, of course, she was naked mud-wrestling with another woman.

That had got him a smack and they had started a fight in the apartment that had the neighbours banging on the floor.

Max grinned to herself as she dodged a market trader with his 'fresh' fish. She loved fighting with Alec; it was one of her favourite past-times. But it didn't take first place in her life.

She was still devoted to finding her family; Biggs, Sunny, Zan, Pix… all her family, but she still needed something to do during the day before she went crazy.

Max stopped in her tracks and her thoughts trailed off as she heard signs of a scuffle nearby, her innate curiosity taking her into an alley not too far away.

The darkest back wall was dripping with condensation and what was possibly urine, as well as a selection of the finer moulds… oh and a lanky, dishevelled guy up on his tiptoes to avoid the steel knife aimed at his throat.

"Look, dude," he was saying, "this is my fricking job, okay, I'm not on the game, I don't want your business and I don't care what your high is, okay? I deliver packages- that's all!"

The guy with the knife stepped closer revealing yellow teeth to match his badly spiked yellow hair.

"Oh yeah, well we don't want no poofters in our territory got it, mate?"

The accent was decidedly British and the knife came in closer as he snarled.

The two stooges behind him looked like something out of a bad horror movie, with metal spikes and plates sticking out all over the place. One was wearing a black dog collar with studs that showed against his dark-skin and glittered in the scant daylight. He was the taller of the two and although he towered over them all, his intelligence didn't seem to soar to the same heights. The smaller one had dark hair, plastered down to his skull to flop into his pasty face. He was wearing all leather and had a metallic hand; he looked kind of… greasy.

Whatever they were, they decidedly outnumbered and out-armed the goofy looking guy and Max felt a stir of pity.

"Hey," she called. "Back off, okay? The guy is just trying to make a living in a broken world!"

They spun to see her, tensing at first but relaxing when they saw who it was.

"Bugger off, girlie, this ain't none of your business."

Max folded her arms over her chest, "I'm making it my business."

The blond rolled his eyes. "Can't get a frigging minute to meself here. Tuck, Bird, get rid of the bitch wouldja?"

"Sure thing Eddy," the greasy one said.

Max smirked, "You gotta be Bird."

"Hey good call!" he smiled, delighted. "How'd ya know."

"They say the early bird catches the worm."

It took several seconds for him to register that he had been insulted by the girl and his frown cleared as he rushed at her, his metal hand grabbing for her throat.

Max dodged the stiff steel and kicked out at his knee. She grinned as she heard an audible snap and the guy went down with a cry.

"Bloody terrific!" Eddy said and pulled the knife away from the relieved man against the wall. "Wotcha do that for?"

Max shrugged one shoulder. "His mama never told him not to hit girls."

"I ain't got time for this. Tuck, pick 'im up." Eddy pointed the knife at Max. "You just made some powerful enemies, love. Steelheads ain't to be messed with."

"Steelheads?"

Eddy frowned at her, "You ain't heard of us?"

"I'm new in town," she smiled as she walked away from the groaning Bird. His friend Tuck helped him up and scuffled back towards Eddy.

"Oh!" Eddy beamed. "Welcome to Seattle. Don't plan on staying."

And with that parting remark he turned and walked away, completely ignoring the guy that sagged against the wall.

Max smirked and chuckled to herself as she ambled closer. "You okay?"

He nodded his hand reaching for his throat.

Max stared at him, he was taller than her and much thinner, his lanky frame making him seem even taller. He had sunglasses perched on top of a mop of messy blond hair and a permanently confused expression was plastered to his face.

"Yeah, wow!" he beamed at her. "You saved me, I thought for sure those Steelheads were gonna go medieval on my ass."

Max shook her head, confused at the imagery and passed him his bag which had lain discarded on the ground. It was a large yellow bag with a black insignia on it- a man on a bike.

He was still chattering away. "Do you lift weights or do Kung Fu or something; I mean you totally kicked his ass. I mean, damn girl, you da bomb!"

Max giggled at his enthusiastic reply and eager eyes. He looked around and picked his bike up off the ground, "Geez, thankfully they didn't break the bike. Normal'd kill me!" he paused. "Or can my ass. Not sure which I'd prefer actually," he shook himself. "I'm Calvin Theodore… or, as my friends call me, Sketchy."

"Max," she shook his hand with a grin. "Just Max."

"Huh," Sketchy knocked his hair out of his eyes. "Well, Just Max, I am eternally in your debt. It's been a rough week for the Sketchmeister and I was not looking forward to having a steel knuckle sandwich, if you know what I'm saying."

"Not a word," Max confessed. There was something about Sketchy that she liked. He was honest and sweet and he had made her grin no less than four times in as many minutes.

"If there's anything I can do for you just say," he wrinkled his nose. "As long as it's not too hard."

Max laughed and added half jokingly, "You could give me a job."

"You in the market for one?" he looked at her thoughtfully.

Max shrugged and dug her hands into her leather jacket pocket. "Yeah I'm new in town and was looking for a little something to do."

"Huh," he frowned. "Well, come with me then. I'm not sure it'll work but it's worth a shot."

Max didn't have anything better to do so she walked with the funny guy across town.

While they walked he chattered away to her about anything and everything and his lilting voice and sketchy conversation made her giggle.

She learned that he was the second of four children and he wasn't living up to his parents' expectations as to what he could be. His eldest brother, Frank, was a taxidermist, his younger sister, Chloe, was a nurse and his baby sister, Lindsey, was just finishing her exams. It was clear that he doted on Lindsey and her on him. But Frank seemed to have an arrogant streak and Chloe was far too busy for anything else. He regaled her with tales of what Christmas was like at the Theodore house and Max had to stop several times to get her laughing under control. He was so different from any of her family that it was a wonder to listen to him. He was… light.

He was just telling her about his first bike when he stopped abruptly, pulling up to a broken down building which seemed to be the hub of activity.

"This is Jam Pony," he announced. "Home to the lame, the pathetic and the terminally baffled," he paused. "And Normal."

Max glanced around at the crowd of young people milling and chatting happily to each other. Some rode off on bikes and some rode in. Some chatted over steaming cups of coffee and some just hung over rails and laughed.

Sketchy looked concerned at her, "You know prostitution is always a good fallback."

Max's lips curved, "It can't be that bad."

He winced, "You haven't met Normal."

He gestured for her to follow him into the building and down a ramp that led to the centre of the activity.

The room was separated into several sections but it was all open plan and informal. There was the casual area full of falling to pieces sofas where teens sat around nonchalantly drinking and watching T.V with their friends, it looked battered and lived in. There, towards the back, was the locker area with peeling red paint and graffiti on the battered iron doors.

The bathrooms were tucked away at the rear of the building and bikes hung from the ceiling all over the place. On her right was a hatchway which housed a very harassed looking man in a striped shirt with dark rimmed glasses and an earpiece. He was yelling out orders and addresses and kept his eyes glued to his clipboard.

Sketchy took a deep breath and wheeled over to the hatch.

"Delivered to Sector Eight, although the Steelheads aren't pleased."

"Unless you lost a limb, tell it someone who cares," the man said without looking up. "Did you get a signature?"

"Yeah," Sketchy rolled his eyes and motioned Max forward. Max stepped closer to the hatchway feeling oddly nervous.

"Uh, Normal?" Sketchy said. "I would personally like to recommend my friend for a job here. She saved my ass from certain Steelheads and I feel she could be valuable asset to the company."

But the man—Normal?—wasn't listening. He scratched something on his clipboard and looked up, surprised to see Sketchy still standing there.

"What do you want, you feckless bum?"

Max stepped forward. "Actually I was looking for a job?"

"We have no vacancies," he said abruptly.

"I quit!" A tall blonde girl slapped her paper down on the desk before walking out.

"We have a vacancy," Normal said and slid paper over to her. "What's your name, Missy Miss?"

"Max."

Normal looked her once over, but it wasn't the look that guys often gave her. Normal looked at her like he was gauging her ability to work.

"All right, you are on probation. Feckless here can show you around." He looked over at Sketchy's grin. "Actually, maybe not. Cindy!"

"That's Original Cindy ta you."

Max turned around to see a tall African girl glaring at Normal with attitude firmly in place.

"An' I don't answer ta no dog call, Normal. Ain't no need to holler, holler across the room, dig?"

Normal shook his head, "If I want to call you Lady Sappho herself I will. I have that right as the person who signs your pay-check. Missy Miss this is Cindy she'll show you the ropes around here. Bikes up there, you break it you buy it. I'll get you a sector pass tomorrow and don't forget to get a signature. Welcome to team Jam Pony now bip bip bip!"

He walked off leaving Max staring bemused after her new boss.

"The name's _Original_ Cindy," said the African holding out her hand. "But chu' can call me O.C."

"Max. Uh, O.C.?" she leaned forward conspiratorially. "I don't know how to bip."

Original Cindy laughed, "Me neither suga, lets get outta this dive and get us acquainted."

"You ladies have Sector 6, same as me," Sketchy smiled and handed Max a package.

O.C. raised her eyebrows, "You know each other?"

"We just met," Max said.

"Yeah, Max saved my ass from a couple of Steelheads, the girl has some serious muscle." Sketchy unhooked a bike from the ceiling and handed it to Max.

"I work out," Max hedged at his admiring look. She was going to have to nip this in the bud as soon as possible.

"Feel free ta work out wi' me anytime, boo!" O.C.'s glance made Max feel uneasy and she just smiled blithely.

They walked out of the building and into the bright sun of Seattle and mounted their bikes, as they sailed down the road Max asked the question she'd wanted to for a while.

"Is Normal always so?" Max searched for a word to describe him—a polite word.

"Anal?" O.C. nodded and answered in rapid-fire street. "He was born with a buck up his butt, but his bark is worse than his bite, suga."

"Of course his bite is rabid," Sketchy added and Max agreed. "But you know it's not a bad job, it sure beats getting kicked outta your apartment for rent and you don't have to take your clothes off," he paused. "You know, unless you want to."

At that Max let out a loud laugh and O.C. joined in.

"Sorry Sketch," Max said between laughs. "My boyfriend is notoriously jealous and protective… plus he's a fighter so…"

"Ah, nuff said!" Sketchy raised his hands in defeat and O.C. pouted.

"How come all the cute ones are straight?"

Max frowned, "Straight what?"

----

Max kicked open the door to the apartment and staggered in, exhausted after a day of riding around the city. She propped her new bike against the wall and called out for Alec.

There was a grunt from the bedroom and Max smirked as she realised that Alec was only just getting up.

She sauntered into the kitchen and made up a pot of coffee, just as it was ready Alec stumbled blindly into the kitchen, his hair askew and rubbing sleep from his eyes.

Max's heart melted as his face exuded softness and vulnerability, he smiled goofily at her and she pushed the coffee to him.

"How long have you been up?" he asked with a yawn.

"Since nine," she said as she watched him try to wake up, his chest gloriously bare and jeans low slung on those strong hips. "Shark D.N.A can be a bitch sometimes."

"Hmm," he pulled her close and wrapped his arms around her, nuzzling into her hair with his nose. "Smell good."

Max smiled at the feel of warm sleepy Alec and she tucked her arms around him, rubbing her cheek against his heart. "I stopped this guy getting beaten up today."

Alec pulled away slightly, "You okay?"

Max rolled her eyes, "No, there were three humans with spiky things sticking out all over."

"Steelheads," Alec said knowledgably. "One of the guys at work was telling me about them. They are serious and scary, packing serious hardware according to Mark anyway. Did they hurt you?"

"I nearly bust a rib laughing if that's what you mean." Max pulled away slightly annoyed at his question. She was C.O. of Special Ops, she wasn't Monty Cora's girlfriend; she was perfectly capable of handling herself, and Alec too, if it came to it.

Alec didn't seem to notice her irritation as he stretched languidly. "Gotta love a world where you can have a metal plate in your head and call it fashion."

Max shrugged and walked over to the couch flopping down and crossing her legs. Alec smiled and sat on the arm of the sofa.

"So what have you been doing, precious?"

"I got a job," she said shortly and switched on the T.V.

"Why?" Alec sounded baffled. "My ring job earns way more than enough for the two of us."

"I want my own money, Alec."

"It is your own money," he said. "What's mine is yours."

Max turned to face him, "I pay my own way Alec, I don't need you to provide for me when I am perfectly capable of doing it myself." She turned back to the T.V. "Besides its not like I'm doing anything else."

"Is this a girl thing?"

Max reached up and smacked him with her cushion.

"All right, all right!" he smirked and held his hands up. "So tell me about this job."

"Well, the guy that I saved offered it to me," Max suddenly had an evil idea. "He even said that I don't have to take my clothes off unless I want to."

Alec had just taken a gulp of coffee, which ended up spewed halfway across the room with Max's words.

"Wha-?"

Max raised her eyebrows delicately. "Something I said?"

Alec's gaze darkened, "He said what?"

Max blinked, "It's not a hard job, I mean delivering services to customers all over Seattle. Of course my muscles are all aching from the work-out but that's to be expected since I've never done it before. But, wow, I didn't know how much fun it is to ride all day long."

The look on Alec's face was priceless and Max had never wanted to giggle so much in her life but she managed through sheer force of will to keep a straight face.

"Who the hell is this guy?"

"Sketchy?" Max beamed and looked up as if lost in rapturous thought. "Oh you'd love him, he's so cute. He has this hair that just… and these eyes. He's like…"

Alec growled and brought her chin towards him, his face like thunder. "Like what?"

"A crazy puppy," Max broke into a grin. "I think he was on drugs way too long."

The sigh that escaped Alec was comical and Max gave way to giggles as Alec sat there indignantly.

"That's not funny, Max," he stated.

"Should have… seen your… face," she managed between giggles.

"Maxie!" he growled half irritated but able to see the humour through his jealous haze.

She calmed down slightly and sat up on the sofa until she was kneeling on the cushions, face to face with her pouting boyfriend. Looking sweetly at him she put him out of his misery. "I'm a bike messenger delivering packages to people all over Seattle. The wages may be small but I get a sector pass and I get paid to travel all over Seattle where I can keep an eye out for any Manticore alumni."

"Sounds great," Alec beamed at her, relieved that she wasn't lusting after this guy. He tucked his hands into her jeans pockets and pulled her closer, nuzzling his noise into her neck and smelling her unique scent as if to comfort himself with it.

Max allowed him to imprint her scent on himself and smiled as his heart rate slowed to normal.

"So are you coming to the ring tonight?"

"Nah," Max shook her head and pulled back, settled back on the sofa. "I'm kinda wiped so I'll take a shower and catch some sleep."

"Okay," Alec dropped off the arm of the sofa to lay with his head in her lap.

Max stared down at him as he made himself comfortable on her knees. She had wanted to talk about Alec taking time off to combine efforts to find their family but he was adorable and so relaxed right now. It could be that he got to release his tension in the ring or it could be that he was no longer under constant scrutiny from Manticore but his teasing and whole demeanour was so laid back, it was refreshing and Max felt her lips curve.

She could talk to him about this some other time and so she combed her fingers through his hair and settled back to watch the T.V.

----

Ames White had had enough of inefficiency and inability. Exactly how hard could it be to find details on one female freak and bring them to him? How hard could it be for them to find said bitch and force her to give up the code that cause the transgenics to come to him in their droves aching to be put out of their misery?

He was surrounded by incompetents and it was beginning to grate on his already fragile nerves. What he needed was one solid break.

"Sir?"

Wrist, neck, leg— any break would do, really.

"Sir?"

"Yes?" he said tiredly his hands going to the bridge of his nose to massage away the burgeoning headache.

"A Colonel Lydecker has just arrived for you."

White's hand snapped down and he spun on his heel, "What?"

---

Colonel Donald Lydecker was intimately familiar with the retrieval operation of the transgenics; he had spent the last ten years hunting down his kids and had only managed to recapture two. One died in the attempt and one had been caught back in '09 and had gone on to do marvellous things. X5- 452, or as otherwise known Max. His little Max that he had managed to keep a hold of instead of losing like he did so many of the others. She had always been a favourite of his back in Wyoming, truth be told. Max and Ben had always been his little stars; 452 with her smart little ideas and quick thinking and 493 with his imagination and eager attitude. When he'd discovered that it was 493 who had been killing people all over the continent he had been heart-broken and it had almost been enough to drive him back to the bottle which he had sworn never to touch again. But Ben had been quiet since the explosion of the Seattle base and the committee had called Lydecker in.

Settle might be a bust but there were still the bases in Wyoming, Atlanta and the two abroad that were spearheaded by basic operations. The committee had decided that it was high time this mess had been cleared up and so he had been ordered back to HQ and he was assigned Seattle cleanup to work alongside the letter agencies that were also hoping to clear up the governments embarrassing mistake. Lydecker's job was now recapture any way possible, dead or alive didn't matter, after all it was just as easy to dissect a dead transgenic as it was to reindoctrinate a live one. His plan was to bring in as many as possible— alive— to be redistributed between the other facilities.

Unfortunately, in order to do this, he had to work with the same sanctimonious assholes that had made his job so hard in the first place. Like the officious prick that had just walked into the place like he owned it.

"Colonel Lydecker, I'm Agent in charge, Ames White," the short square jawed man held out his hand for Lydecker.

He waited a beat before placing his hand in the man's, after all he had the position of power here and he wanted to enforce that. Power games were there for a reason.

"Pleased to meet you Agent White," he lied, immediately having had enough of pleasantries. "I'm interested to where you are in your present investigation."

"Me too," growled White glaring at the scurrying men around him. He felt decidedly ill at ease with Colonel Lydecker around. Although the man had been reported to have gone off the deep end for a while, no one at the Committee or anywhere else had anything but praise for the dedicated man who had spent most of his life either teaching or tracking the transgenics.

White looked him over, Colonel Lydecker wasn't tall but carried himself in a way that made the most of the height that he had, he had a presence that demanded respect and White found himself itching to stand to attention. Lydecker's mop of dark straw coloured hair was unruffled and short, his piercing, shrewish eyes stared right through you and his stocky but strong physique spoke of a man that wasn't some paper-pusher. Lydecker obviously worked hard, despite his aging years and the threads of grey in his hair.

White disliked him already.

Mendez came closer and smiled at Lydecker almost relieved that here was someone who looked like they could stand up to his arrogant boss.

"We have been unable to look into the files too carefully; many of them were destroyed with the fire at Seattle and most are heavily encrypted. What we have gathered is that this," Mendez looked at his notes, "Uh… person managed to open the doors after lockdown was established and then transmitted the announcement."

"What announcement?" Lydecker asked coolly.

"One of the transgenics managed to make an announcement to the others over the PA system," White filled in, "they were informed that the explosion was a hostile act on behalf of their superiors."

"I'd like to listen to this tape."

"It's not clear," Mendez began but Lydecker cut him off.

"I said I'd like to hear it." Lydecker's voice informed him that this wasn't a request and that it had never had been. This was a voice of someone who was used to being obeyed and would tolerate nothing less that exact compliance.

Mendez barely fought the urge to roll his eyes and ask for a new assignment. Being under White had been bad enough, but to be under the command and control of, not one, but two arrogant egotistic S.O.B's? Maybe his mother was right and he should have gone into the Navy.

White gestured for the older man to follow him into the inner tent and glowered at Mendez until he switched on the mechanic reel.

The static once again filled the canvas tent before a female voice echoed.

"_Hal… not panic, this …452 … Code…. Listen to…You… betrayed by your command; Manticore… under attack…. by… superiors….go to ground…This... **not** … drill. …not accept… than… coded, do not trust… Wait for my signal … Repeat. You are … command; re—ploy… your unit …go … g—nd ...49— …luck."_

Lydecker listened intently, betraying nothing with his cool exterior but White could see a flicker of something in his eyes.

"452," he said eventually.

"Yes, we assume that she gave them a premeditated code or signal that they will respond to. We have every confidence that once we capture her and send up this signal then the rest will follow and recapture should be easy."

"Easy?" Lydecker's mouth crinkled into an unpleasant smirk. "Son,"

White bristled. "In 2009 twelve of these transgenics escaped, they were nine at the time. I have spent the last ten years trying to find them and only coming close on several occasions through a combination of luck and sheer tenacity. Take those children and give them ten extra years of training. Easy isn't the word I would use."

White pasted a smile on his face, "With all due respect, Colonel, we have the full backing of the US government with all of its resources to make sure that this little mess of yours is cleared up."

"And yet your resources have told you squat about X5-452, am I right?"

White had never been called a patient man and being talked down to by this deteriorating ex-alcoholic with a superiority complex was frustrating to say the least.

"No," he said shortly.

"This girl who you assume to capture so quickly was one of the 09ers, the fastest, and the brightest. The only reason that she was recaptured was because she fell through a patch of ice, otherwise she would just as elusive as her fellow squad."

"How lucky," White bit out through gritted teeth.

"She graduated top of the Manticore project and was immediately transferred to the Seattle base for Special Operatives training. She was made joint Commanding Officer and in time took that role for herself. 452 is fast, powerful, intelligent and has enough reason to hold a grudge against us all. If she is anything like her original Unit she will be hard to catch and with ten extra years training not to mention her Special Ops training, I'm guessing it will nearly impossible."

"You seem to know her well," White remarked ignoring the way that the rest of the men in the tent were watching the byplay between the two of them with increasing interest and delight.

Lydecker just smiled secretively. "However I do accept that impossible or not, it may be the best course of action."

White barely resisted the urge to smirk at the Colonel using his plan. "Do you have access to their files?"

"I can get Ma-452's by tomorrow."

White raised an eyebrow, "With pictures?"

"No," Lydecker admitted. "The Committee didn't think that having their photographs on file was advantageous in case of a leak."

"Right," said White. "Wouldn't want those who they may be sent to kill to know what their assassins look like."

"Quite," Lydecker ignored White's sarcasm. "We have pictures of them at ten but obviously they have matured."

White had an idea. "You have had contact with her; could you work with a composite artist to work up a sketch?"

Lydecker considered this. "I haven't seen her in over a year, but I could try."

White let a small smirk come through his forced casual demeanour.

"Excellent, Otto!" The Hispanic man appeared at his elbow. "Find a composite artist for Colonel Lydecker."

"Yes, Sir."

Lydecker turned to Otto.

"I'll also need that tape transcribed and a copy of all efforts thus far."

Otto carefully didn't look at White's tight jaw and just nodded at Lydecker's commands.

"Yes, Sir."

"Anything else?" White almost growled.

Lydecker smirked, "Coffee would be nice. Black, two sugars."

Otto exchanged glances with Mendez and then the two men escaped quickly before things could explode. Mendez watched Otto head for the satellite phone and he headed for the communications truck.

He could tell that things were going to be even tenser in the camp from here on out, now that the two main commanders would be butting heads constantly. He was no behaviourist specialist but even he could see the potential for disaster.

Why hadn't he listened to his mother?

-----

* * *

_restive nature- Thanks, it wasn't timed for the election but hey. It all worked out well. I didn't think that they ever explained that in DA. And oh yeah my little motorcycle!_

_Sigma1- Purring?__ Oh that's a new one on me. I like it!_

_Lotamoxie__- That she will, Alec is being tad selfish but hey, she's his girl for the first time ever._

_GivenAlias__- I always wanted to know the story behind Max's original Ninja but nada. I had to make up my own in the end._

_Geminangel__- I miss the interaction between them all, so we will have plenty of flashbacks, trust me on this!_

_Annabelle- A few meet up soon, don't worry. They are way too much fun to have solo for too long_

_Ronda TIW- Max has incredible self control. I would have jumped the guy already!_

_Moonlite__ Star- Cheers pet._

_Lynn- 50670- I couldn't keep Maxie away from her baby for too long, could I?_

_Messymissy__- I think Alec is jealous of anything that takes Max's attention away from him._

_Natacup82- when are they gonna do it? Uh Chapter 5 I think. _

_Raven- She is attached, after all a Ninja is a thing of beauty! Just like Alec._

_Ganko__- thanks sweetheart, I hope your bf does something that sweet for you. But if he buys you a Ninja- I may have to steal him!_

_Volleyball-Setter- LOL, well if you review and Anne doesn't then kudos you! Oh feel free to ramble on- I enjoy listening._

_Kim- This story is twistier than a crazy straw in a hurricane! I'm going crazy! The flashbacks will probably be a firm fixture- I miss Manticore!!_

_Jynx__- LOL! That would be so much fun- I could come and give tutorials!_

_Aur__- Like Max would let some two-bit bimbo get her claws into her man! I hope that the relationship is accelerating at the right pace._

_Rose- hey doll, the chapters are coming thick and fast and only time will tell f your questions get answered. Enjoy anyway!_

_Crimsonshadoe__- That's true, he finally has her to himself. Lets hope he doesn't abuse the privilege Yeah the Shark thing comes into play a lot with both Max and Chance. Less so Dek now because he is aware of it. But it is hitting Emma harder than most. More detail as to why they are not lovers? Yeah I need to do that. I'd gush over the bike too! Classy piece of metal._

_Fangedangel__- Oy wench! Its plenty long enough. I could make it half the size if ya want? LOL, okay this part is longer. No Sam, clones have no place in my universe!_

_Stormvind__- hey Angel, have you had a blast on your travels?_

_Natasgi__- Sorry for the distraction and good luck on those exams honey, ooh cool idea a dankangel fanfic monthly. Wonder if it'd sell well?_

_Aleclovemax__- for some reason my site keeps crashing on me when try to update- it sucks but I will get it done soon!_

_Lynn__- better late than never.__ It feels weird to have them separate but I also like how they work together. Ooh Alec delivered chocolate! That'll be sweet! They are so much like real people t me now it's odd when I don't write them in a story_

_Alexceaser__- hey nice name, Lydecker was a cool bad guy and this whole turning over to the side of good was sooo overdone. He's a great bad guy and working with White? Classic_

_Feenian__- when will they start to look for the others? Hmm nowish?_

_Manda__- Hi! It's a small world after all so she probably will meet up with someone soon- not saying who though!_

_Schizm01430- Hi, glad that you like it and I am sorry that I had to kill off Mets, I liked the guy too. The pic of __Tara__ is a mystery- some model, one is of Elle McPherson but I could never find the other girl again- which was annoying.._

_Guest Type Person- Okay mention it if you must. LOL. Glad that I could make your sucky day better even in a small way. Yes do homework!_

_Arwen-amy__- I'd be jealous of the motorcycle if Alec paid that much attention to it rather than me. Sigh_

_Jade-K- Cheers pet, I like jealous Alec personally but hey. I understand I miss them all too._

_Tina N. Blair- me too, there just hasn't been the interest lately and the stories are kinda the same! Of course I haevnt read much DA since I discovered Harry Potter fic (ss/hg if you're interested) That is one reason why this story is much harder for me, because I think that once they do get together they start to be too lovey and less trannie- I hate that. if I lose the spark let me know! I love White! Alec and Zack? Mmm._

_Angel of Darkness231- Wickedly cool TransG way- I like it! This part was fun!_

_Kristibella__- Cheers pet, glad you like. A levels are the hardest thing that I have ever done—and I have a degree so that should tell you. Loughborough is like an hour away from me! Its very very pretty and the college is fab! I studied Psychology and American Studies which have helped not at all in my career thus far!_

_SGOU—I think they would survive the pulse because they would be too drunk to notice! Sorry you have to be in such a boring place. But you could always do recon at __Fort__Irwin__ and report back to me. Yeah Max is starting to feel the DNA thing and Alec is having way too much fun to notice. I do miss them all together again, its not fair that I had to destroy Manticore! Shame on me! I think that, like Syl with Zack, they need to muddle through things on their own. Max feels protective and rightly so but Alec will feel bad once he realises that they felt neglected. Naive- excellent way of describing Alec, he really is a big kid isn't he? _

_Mrs- Check out my site and the pic of Max on the bike- so cool!_

_JG- LOL, Max ands Alec will get together in that way soon. Patience my love._

_Elfie__ Sorry the fave guys are Sketchy and Lydecker. Actually wonder what Bill is doing now. The overall arch was something that they missed in DA so we never understood wy Manticore and the familiars. Here is more clear- or will be once I get my ass in gear. I assumed White was CIA- possibly was NSA- but would you tell people that? Being Brit I have no understanding of the letter agencies. I love flashbacks, I get t tell stories that I missed. I actually updated the wrong chapter and wrote replies to this one instead, then realised I had missed a chapter out and had to replace so some of my replies made no sense. My bad._

_Btm452- Hey, thanks for reviewing. More soon._


	5. 4 Seize the boy

A/N- Many thanks to you guys and those who sent me emails to rekindle my DA fascination. I have started a new DA fic to be posted soon, so hopefully things will pick up and you'll get more stories.

REVIEW ME! and yes I know its been a while since I updated. My bad. In my defence has been down for about three weeks.

* * *

**Chapter 4 Seize the boy**

"So, boo," O.C said as they skidded around the corner. "How's things wit' you and your boy?"

"Okay, I guess," Max hedged, not sure how to answer that. It wasn't that she didn't trust O.C, she did—sort of—it was just that she had been trained to be sceptical and to suspect people. She wasn't supposed to just spill the beans to a girl she had just met. Although she wasn't sure if that was the way that things were supposed to be just now. Maybe it would be nice to get someone impartial view on things with Alec. She didn't have to tell the whole truth, did she?

"Just okay?" O.C raised an eyebrow. "Honey, girl like you can do better than 'okay, I guess.'"

"Yeah," Max bit her lip and drew up on front of Jam Pony. "It's just that things are different to what I expected them to be."

_Way different_.

O.C. and Max chained up their bikes and yelled to Normal that they were on a break before heading to their lockers to get their lunch.

"How's that?" O.C. continued once they were settled.

Max unwrapped her sandwiches and stared at the bread, suddenly not hungry.

O.C. noted to look on her face and touched her arm, "Boo?"

Max sighed, "See, we were brought up at the same… orphanage, but didn't really meet until I was fifteen, I was a jock and he was a … geek." She grinned. "He was an ass to me and we pretty much declared war from that first meeting… Well, I declared war. I think he was interested."

"Huh," O.C. said. "Name me one man who ain't!"

"It wasn't until one of our mutual… friends became, uh, indisposed that we called a truce." Max grinned at the memory of sweet Sunny going into heat.

_Max and Alec stood on either side of a squirming Sunny, trying to take her to the isolation wards. With one on either side it was easier to drag Sunny through the woods towards Manticore even if Sunny was trying to paw Alec all the way there._

"_Get that top off Soldier I want to see some skin," she ordered hoarsely and reached out to grab Alec's ass._

_Alec yelped and took a deep breath, immediately regretting it when the smell of her pheromones tugged at his senses and flooded him._

"_Skin?" he grinned. "How much?"_

"_Don't make me smack you again," Max ordered in distaste and kicked his shin._

"_Ow! Dammit 452, you…" he paused when it appeared he had regained his senses "No my bad. Wasn't expecting that."_

_They took off Max's outer shirt and tied it around Sunny's mouth to stop her insults to Max's parentage and comments about Alec's physique._

_Even he began blushing._

"_You girls have some issues with my body, don't you! What with you and my ass and her and…"_

"_Can you keep your head out of your pants until we get to iso?"_

"_I need help," he admitted "C'mon 452 distract me."_

"_How?"_

"_You could get naked?" he suggested and dropped Sunny's arm when he held up a hand to defend himself from her ire. "I was joking."_

_He waited with bated breath and then; "Wait 452, was that a smile?"_

"_No," she wiped the smirk off her face._

"_It was, it was, you smiled! Call off the search, put a halt to the FBI manhunt, we have found 452's sense of humour."_

"_Hey! I have a sense of humour!" she defended hoisting Sunny's arm higher._

"_Oh please. The national guard couldn't find it." He helped her get Sunny over a rough patch of forest._

"_I do, I just don't happen to find you funny, smart aleck." _

"_Yeah right, I'm hilarious," he offered and moved a tree out of the way._

_Sunny wriggled trying to get closer to him._

"_Urgh," Max said in disgust. "Would you please stop that!"_

_Sunny glared at the one who was keeping her from her prize. _

"_Mmph mmh fmmma bmmf," she gurgled through the gag._

"_Hey, do I insult your test tube?" Max scolded. "I'm trying to keep you from making a hideous, revolting mistake."_

"_HEY!" Alec cried, affronted. "Hideous AND revolting, a little redundant, don't ya think?"_

_She shrugged "I call it like I see it."_

"_You know most girls here think I'm one hell of a catch."_

"_It just goes to show that an I.Q test wasn't part of the prerequisites to get in."_

Max grinned, "We helped her out and a truce was called. In time we became friends. Best friends. It took a hell of a lot but we got there eventually and I couldn't imagine being separated from him for a second."

"Damn," O.C. sounded disappointed and Max smiled at that.

"So we hung out, got closer. I started to have… to get… to want…"

_Okay, Max, too much information. You have just met this girl!_

"You got hot for the boy?"

"Pretty much," Max laughed, uneasy at sharing. "Of course being brought up in Man… in a man… hating dorm," she amended—damn, this girl was too easy to talk to—, "I hadn't got a clue how to deal with him."

O.C.'s eyes took on a far away gleam, "A girl's dorm? Damn, sounds like my idea of heaven."

"Mine too!" Sketchy said sliding in next to Max. "Afternoon girls, what are we doing?"

"Girl chat, go away, fool," O.C. demanded.

"Now that's not nice, is it Max?" Sketchy pouted. "I'm sure Max wants me here."

"Sure I do," Max said sweetly and Sketchy preened at O.C's disbelief.

"So Cindy, when you get your period and the blood is really thick and heavy do you—"

Sketchy paled and jumped to his feet, "I have to be… somewhere else!"

Max and O.C. broke into hysterics as Sketchy raced up to Normal and requested more work… now!

"Good one, girl you go!"

"All in a day's work," Max giggled. Pix had once told her that talk of female personal problems tended to make human men act strangely. He had wanted to know why since he was quite happy to discuss her heat cycles and stomach cramps. They had decided that humans were weird. The thought of Pix brought a pang.

"So, you were going to tell me stories of you all alone in the girls dorms?"

"Maybe later," Max tried to straighten her face at O.C.'s mock disappointment.

"So, you and your guy start to fall and get busy?"

"Thus we come to the crux of the matter," Max winced. "He loves me, I love him but we haven't…" she trailed off in embarrassment.

"Why not?"

Max stared at her hands, "I guess I'm… everyone that I've let close to me, real close ends up dying, leaving or hurting me. Even Alec."

O.C's eyes flashed, "Does he hit you?"

Max chuckled at that. "He wouldn't dare. I hit harder than he does."

"Words hit harder'n fists," O.C. remarked sadly and Max nodded.

"What if I… if we…"

_Shut up, Max!_

"Get busy?"

"Right and he leaves, or gets hurt or dies?"

Even though she was somewhat unwilling, having a hearing ear that might just understand led Max to lay out her insecurities for Original Cindy to see. They weren't unfounded at all. Everyone that Max had loved had left her one way or another. First there was Zack and Ben who she had adored more than her life and they were gone, she knew that they weren't dead, thanks to Ben, but they had left her.

_As she watched her sibs disappear into the night she felt an odd sense of foreboding that this was the last time that she would see them all together.  
Ben turned before he left with Zane and bought his hand up to touch her shoulder. Her nodded his goodbye and went to catch up with his partner.  
She shook off her feelings as Zack motioned for her and Jondy to go together which would leave him on his own. She shook her head but Zack frowned his disapproving.  
Follow orders, he motioned and Jondy pulled Max to her feet. Casting a look back at him as she headed for the trees with her sister, Max knew that he was one that she would miss the most.  
The two of them made good ground and their feet made tiny imprints in the snow as they made their way to the perimeter fence. The snow blizzard motorbikes roared behind them and as they rounded the last corner they heard yelling and screaming. Jondy almost stumbled as it registered that it was Seth who had screamed. Max pulled her along and squeezed her hand in comfort; they knew that they would lose brothers tonight.  
She felt her feet slide out from under her as she hit a slippery patch of ice but before she could right herself her sensitive toes registered cracks in the ice and suddenly she was plunged into icy water.  
_

Max shook herself out of the memory of falling through the ice and fighting for her life, fighting to survive.

She had survived that. Then she had survived the next six years of hell with her new "unit". Bulli and Unit 6 who delighted in making her life a living torment until she had fought back and won herself a place in Special Ops and that, she thought triumphantly, was the day that she started to live again.

Oh, there were a few hiccups— she mentally grinned at the thought of the "Ben" incident being a small hiccup—but she was able to have a family that she loved and adored and adored her back. Then with a few well placed bombs her world was in tatters again.

What if Alec was next, what if she really was the poison that she had always been told that she was? Wouldn't it be better to stay away from him?

Could she bear it if they made love and she lost him, could she live knowing what she had lost?

"Could you deal if you lost your boy an' never showed him how much you care?"

Max jumped as she realised she had spoken out loud and O.C. had answered.

O.C. sighed, "Listen to me, boo. I don't know what's going on wit' you. I know ya'll have some issues and secrets. But straight up now from a friend, I guarantee that if your boy died tomorrow—hit by a bus or died of a heart attack—could you survive knowing that you had now, knowing that you had tonight and never did anything?"

The words died in Max's throat as she thought of Alec dead, his beautiful green eyes no longer sparkling with vitality and mischief, his lips cold to touch and his hair lifeless.

She choked and raised a trembling hand to push her hair out of her face.

"Now, normally I wouldn't push and I'd say to a sista ta come home wit' me and ignore the pansy-assed of the species," Max managed a grin at O.C's humour. "But honey, while you were sleeping the world got mean. Used to be all you had to worry about was random hit and runs and 'natural diseases'. These days a bullet from a Steelhead is a natural cause and wit' dem at war wit' the Salt Mafia, Beanies and Rude Boys on the Left side, Seattle jus' ain't safe. Ain't no solid G's that you'll last 'til tomorrow. My old girl used to say Carpe Diem, seize the day, coz, hon, tomorrow you might be dead."

O.C. looked sadly at Max and left without a word leaving Max staring pensively into space.

----

"No, make the lips fuller."

"Fuller?" the artist stared at Lydecker like he had grown a set of wings. If he gave the picture fuller lips she'd either look like a puffer fish or a botox reject.

"Fuller," insisted Lydecker, his tone stating that he was serious in this.

"Is she a transgenic or a Platypus?" White asked snidely, sipping his coffee.

Lydecker raised an eyebrow and glared at him.

White smiled widely and ignored Lydecker's near growl.

The two men glared at each other for a full minute before Otto cleared his throat, "Ahem, sir. We have had reports of two more transgenics captured on their way out of Seattle."

"Must have been young," Lydecker sniffed.

"Yes, Sir. X8s."

"Great," White rolled his eyes. "They ask for soldiers and they get kindergarteners."

"I'd like to see you go one on one with those kindergarteners," Lydecker snapped and stalked out of the tent.

"Me too," hissed White as he slammed his coffee mug down and stalked out of the tent.

Otto Gottlieb turned to Mendez. "I betcha fifty dollars Lydecker cracks first."

"Nuh uh, White is two days away from an embolism, I'll take that bet."

One of the lab techs leaned over, "Lock 'em both in the brig," she grinned. "That'd sell tickets."

"OTTO!" White's voice yelled.

Otto rolled his eyes, "Only if we can take turns shooting at 'em."

Otto made his way across the compound to see White and Lydecker standing by a large crate. He looked down to the floor to see four children, no older than eight staring up at them.

"My name is Colonel Lydecker," he snapped.

The four children stood to attention quickly, their hands slapping into a salute and back's ramrod straight.

White smirked, "Cute."

"State your designations."

Silence.

"State your designations."

The oldest looking opened his mouth and croaked, "X82- 333."

"Ah," Lydecker nodded and regarded the four small children.

"So, breeding mutes?" sniped White. "Always made me wonder why you bothered with the younger ones. Isn't it daunting to have to stop drills to change a diaper?"

Lydecker stiffened as White taunted his kids.

"Tell me Colonel, how exactly do they hold a gun whilst sucking their thumb?"

"Our training program for the pre-soldiers has produced sterling results."

"Like the 09ers?" White blinked innocently.

Lydecker glared at him; there was just something about this arrogant son of a bitch that more than got up his nose. His whole attitude rankled and he wanted nothing more than to shut him up.

"How much do you know of the early transgenics, son?"

White shrugged gracefully and sat on the hood of the nearest car, wrapping his arms around himself. "In-vitro implantation into surrogate mothers harvested and passed into the facilities when they are old enough to hold a gun."

"Close but no cigar," it was Lydecker's turn to smirk. "Once the babies are born they are separated from the surrogate and taken to another facility where they are tested and their specific DNA coding is stored. According to their DNA listings they are assigned a training program and instruction. All before they are a week old."

"A training program at that age would be useless," White remarked idly. "Unless you lace the pacifier with some secret recipe for hormone growth?"

White looked mockingly sceptical and Lydecker's bruised ego elaborated.

"It's a well documented fact that a child's first five years are the most crucial of its life and this is when the most intense guidance is required, to prepare them for the extensive training that they receive at the main facilities."

"What guidance?" White turned up his leather collar to ward off the night chill.

Lydecker smirked at the semi-interested tone in his voice. It wasn't often that he was able and even allowed to brag— after all, boasting about your success in a top-secret Military installation made the 'top- secret' part redundant—but Agent White knew the score about Manticore and that allowed Lydecker some leeway.

"At first it is simply pattern recognition and nutritional supplements, brain stimulation through neural receptors to encourage additional intelligence. Their limbs are exercised to a more rigorous degree than normal children. Once they can sit and told their heads up to fix on objects they are placed in front of computers and shown hacking codes and hidden encrypts."

White looked disgusted, "You put babies in front of computers?"

"Yes," Lydecker stated proudly. "It enhances their recognition of it in later life. They are trained not to react so much to sharp feelings or loud sounds and then we aid with Bi-lingual formation by allowing twenty four hour recordings in different languages. Compliance is learned first and they are schooled in obeying commands. Then comes walking, blurring, and firearms. Once they reach the age of four they are taken to the main facility to be educated."

"So why didn't he answer?"

Lydecker shrugged, "Speech is secondary in terms of importance. All transgenics learn to use hand signals before they are taught to speak."

White waited a beat and added sarcastically, "Right, after all, what do they need voices for at that age? Who cares that they can't speak as long as they follow orders?"

"Exactly," Lydecker ignored the sarcasm in White's voice. "These obviously hadn't been out of the baby facility long enough to develop proper speech patterns which means they will be easily reindoctrinated." Lydecker spun on his heel. "Sedate them."

The guard turned his tranquiliser gun on the four wide-eyed children and four loud shots ran clear in the night.

The children slumped to the floor and White watched impervious.

"Take them to Wyoming and get McCarthy to start the program immediately." Lydecker ordered.

"Yes, Sir."

Lydecker nodded at White who just watched silently as he stalked away into the shadows of the camp.

White slowly unfolded his arms and pulled away from the car that he had been sitting on. He glanced briefly at the way that Lydecker had gone and then turned to the guards.

"Shoot them."

The guard nodded, "Yes, Sir!"

White smirked, "Fe'nes'tol."

----

"Honey I'm home."

Normal had been called away on family business so he had told them that they could all go home early, content in the knowledge that his place of business wouldn't be burned down in his absence. Max walked into the apartment and dropped her keys on the table stretching luxuriously.

She could faintly hear some noise from one of the inner rooms and so she toed off her boots and headed towards the voice.

As she walked into the bedroom she could hear Alec's deep voice rumbling beneath the sound of running water and she giggled at the thought of Alec singing in the shower.

She crept through the bedroom and pushed open the bathroom door, letting clouds of steam roll by her as Alec's rich voice sang something about missing his baby.

Seemed Alec had been listening to the country channel.

Max stepped into the steamy room and her eyes were immediately glued to the glass screen in one corner of the room where droplets of hot water and steamed glass were the only thing to separate her view of her naked boyfriend. She had seen him naked before of course. They shared the same showers at Manticore for a while and they certainly weren't shy about stripping at a moments notice. But there was something delightfully sinful about watching him like this.

His hands raised to his hair as he slicked it back, his baritone sounding out even louder as he washed his hair.

Max watched, mesmerised, as he slid his hands back, massaging his nape and shoulders with his strong hands. Soap cascaded down his back in tantalising droplets and slid even lower to where the glass frosted and the picture was obscured.

Max slowly walked forward watching as Alec washed himself, totally oblivious to her presence. He was stunning, no words really could do him justice. His finely proportioned body was a canvas of hard, masculine lines and soft, supple skin, slippery with water and oh so tempting. The muscles in his back rippled as he reached for the dial, obviously finished with his shower.

Max reached out and touched his shoulder unable to help herself.

Alec yelped as he spun around, almost falling in the bathtub.

"Shhhhit, Max, you almost gave me a heart attack!" he grinned to dispel his words but it fell as she didn't respond. "Max?"

She raked her eyes over him from head to heel and slowly, very slowly back up with eyes hooded in desire until she met his.

The look in her eyes was one that hit Alec hard. He knew that Max wanted him, knew that she wanted to be with him. But to see it laid bare here for him to see was almost more than he could handle and it gave him a shot of pure craving right to his core.

Alec's voice was deep as he responded to the look in her eyes. "Max?"

"You. Look. Delicious." She said softly and a predatory look crossed her face as he responded to the drawl in her voice. "Can I taste?"

"Please," his voice came out stretched and pleading.

Max reached out, her hand trembling as she gently touched his strong chest. She swallowed as her hand traced down the solid plains of his body, goose bumps appearing on his arms despite the heat in the air. She leaned forward and let her lips touch where her hands had just been.

It was Alec's turn to swallow as he felt her feather-like touch on his overly sensitized skin.

Her lips were full and trailed silky over his wet body shooting spirals of pleasure into him. Her hands trailed up his forearms and up to his neck, pulling him down to her for a deep, soul- searching kiss.

Alec was drowning in the sensation and the taste of her that promised so much more than he had expected. His fingers entwined themselves in her hair, pulling her closer. As she opened to him, his tongue darted into her mouth, tasting her.

Max pressed herself against him, letting her curves slide against his more angular form as she deepened the kiss letting all of her insecurities go. She loved him, she really did.

An unknown devil— possibly a relative of Pix—took hold and Max pulled away, her eyes twinkling mischievously.

"Okay, thanks for that," she said breezily and turned walking out of the bathroom with Alec's jaw at about floor level.

-

Max was sitting on the sofa when Alec walked into the living room, his face set in a belligerent scowl. He had thrown on a pair of jeans but left off his t-shirt so that his damp hair left droplets of water on his skin rather than a shirt.

She stifled a giggle and he pouted.

"Nice, thanks for that."

The giggles grew harder as he slumped on the sofa.

"Ma-ax!" he whined and she couldn't hold them back anymore, letting loose her mirth in peels of laughter.

"S-sorry Alec," she gasped when she could get a hold of herself. "I couldn't resist."

"Me either," Alec shifted uncomfortably on the couch. "And let me tell you, cold showers? Really not helping."

Max bit her lip as Alec stared at her. He hadn't seen her this relaxed and carefree since they were back at Manticore. It seemed that all of the troubles that were associated with finding her siblings, finding their family and trying to make her way in this unfamiliar way of life has miraculously been lifted to show the woman that he had fallen in love with in the first place.

He smiled indulgently at her, forgiving her for her torture. Almost.

"You're mean and nasty."

"And you are sexy and sweet," she grinned widely. "And I adore you."

Alec's pout disappeared at her words and he smiled. "Forgiven."

"Oh good!"

Alec leaned over and placed a gentle kiss on her forehead, "So mind telling me what that was all in aid of?"

Max shrugged, not really willing to let Alec in on what had been going through her head at that time.

"You looked good; I wanted to see how good." She settled for.

Alec stretched his arms out and joked, "Feel free to carry on checking."

Max bit her lip knowing that he was teasing but more than willing to do as he asked. They hadn't really spoken much about this aspect, other than for Max to tell him that she wasn't ready. But, truth be told, she had thought about it a lot.

He seemed to inspire that in women.

But Max wanted to know what all the fuss was about.

"Have you had sex before?" she blurted out.

Alec dropped his arms and looked at her strangely, "What brought this on?"

"Have you?"

Alec nodded lightly," Yeah, I have."

"Oh," Max seemed disappointed.

Alec sighed as he took her hand, "It wasn't our idea, Maxie. We were about sixteen, you guys had just arrived but Unit 8 were requested to do some field operations and I am their CO, so I went along. We were sent with Trainer Banns and Unit 4 and one of their girls went into heat. It was almost a total disaster," he shuddered. "Nearly the entire unit tried to mate with the girl. Luckily Banns had a taser and managed to knock most of us out before it could turn into an orgy. She was sent back to headquarters under armed guard and the rest of the female transgenics. But then he was left to deal with a group of highly… horny male transgenics. So," he sighed, "he took us to a brothel."

Max's eyes bugged, "Say what now?"

"He hired prostitutes to… uh, help us get back into control," he half- grinned. "I wish I knew what he wrote down on his expenses sheet for that."

Max laughed despite her initial disbelief. "So you've been with really experienced women then?"

Alec shrugged, "I guess, but it was just sex. The first real kiss that I ever had was that one with you up on the hill as Manticore burned." Max glanced over at him as he continued, "The most intense emotions I have ever felt are when I am with you. Fighting, kicking or kissing. There is no one that can bring me out like you do, Max." he leaned forward and kissed her. "I love you."

Max edged closer and snaked her arms around his neck so that her body pressed against his. She tilted her head up to his and placed a feathery kiss on his bottom lip, slowly trailing her tongue along the crease of his mouth, seeking entrance. He parted his lips and their tongues met, slowly exploring one another's mouth. She closed her eyes and kissed him more insistently, sighing contentedly as his hands found their way around her waist.  
Alec pulled her even closer to him as his lips left hers and travelled slowly along her jaw line. She leaned her head back as he sought out the hollow just below her ear before trailing his tongue along the gentle curve of her neck. Max shivered at the feel of his lips on her and ran her hands over his chest, her fingers instinctively smoothing along his muscles and tracing the still wet drops from his shower.

Alec shivered more from desire than cold and pulled her closer to him, his hands twined in her hair making her arch into him more firmly.

Max made the sweetest little noise deep in her throat and he growled in appreciation as her fingers danced along the edge of his jeans.

"Please," she whispered and he felt a rush at the implication in that voice.

Alec's finger skimmed the hem of her shirt and he grasped it in his hands tugging Max's shirt over her head and then he threw it away feasting his eyes on the simple black lace bra that lay beneath. His eyes darkened in passion as he moved over to her breast and sucked her through the material. He was lost in the exquisite sensations of her, her throaty moans and the way she was writhing under him. He was dazed at the idea of finally having her and he pushed roughly at the denim jeans she wore anxious to rid her of all constraints.

A loud moan escaped Max's lungs and it awakened his consciousness. He pulled back from her and looked down at her face flushed with desire, full pouty lips and passion heated eyes.

"Max," he paused and bit his lip. "Are you sure? We can stop...or we can take this slower. We don't have to do this right now. I-if you're not sure or wanna wait," Alec somehow was able to say even though his heart lurched. He had been waiting for her forever but if she needed to he would wait forever… well, maybe not that long. He wanted her to be sure, as far as he knew she hadn't had sex and he wanted things to be perfect for her. Not that he was some great Lothario, having only had one or two partners whilst on away missions during 'downtime'- well, before he fell for Max anyway.

Max's hand cupped his cheek with care as she looked deeply into the eyes that cared so much for her that they screamed his love without him ever saying a word. "Alec, you know how I feel about you. I want to be with you. Kiss me already and if you stop again I might have to beat you with a shovel."

Alec's lips quirked and he chuckled against her mouth, "Yes, ma'am. Your wish is my command."

TBC....

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With thanks to everyone that reviewed me. **The unedited version of this NC-17 can soon be found at my site**- Deny Convention.

Very busy at work right now- although I have quit my job for X-mas yay!!! So I don't have time to add personalised reviews but I swear the next chapter I will. Love you all.

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	6. 5 What Signifies? part 1

**a/n- Hey all. I know I have been really bad at updating recently and I do apologise to everyone who has been great enough to check for updates and email and review.**

**You know the saying, it never rains but it pours? Well I quit my job to have more time to write and my dearest darling sister brought back her own version of the bubonic plague. I spent Christmas day in bed cursing everyone with creative hexes whilst sneezing and seizing all day. Nice. So instead of spending my time on the computer I have been wrapped up to the eyeballs in tissues and medicine. **

**Sorry.**

**----**

**Also this may seem short but is crucial-- pay attention!

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**

**Chapter 5- What signifies part 1?**

----

The place was so loud that Max was hard pressed to hear herself think. But that was half the fun, at least according to Original Cindy and Sketchy who had finally dragged Max to Crash despite her protestations.

It had now been four weeks since the fall of Manticore and Max was no closer to finding her family than before and it was grating on her already fragile nerves. Alec was really into the fighting lifestyle and that, too, was aggravating her nerves. He got home early in the morning smelling of cigarette smoke, sweat and blood and he'd shower before falling into bed beside her, maybe he was in the mood for something before he fell asleep and it was always good. He'd fall asleep holding her, murmuring her name in his dreams and Max would try to catch at least some peace before she got up to go to work. After her hard day at work she'd get home to Alec just awakening and they'd spend a little time together before he had to go back to the ring, he'd try to coax her to come along and she'd decline. Then she'd stay home and concentrate on her efforts to find her family and try to ignore the resentment that she felt towards Alec and his attitude.

She didn't understand it at all, she didn't begrudge Alec, his hobbies or past-times and she usually kept hold of her calm better than she had these past few weeks. It was almost as if there was something inside her skin that forced her to act irate and made her snappy.

Every little thing that Alec did seemed intent to drive her crazy. Every time he asked her to go with him to the bar was an annoyance and a nag. Every time that he refused to help her find her family was a slap in the face of all they had been through together and every time he told her to quit her job was a sting to her independence.

She did not need to rely on him and it grated that he seemed to expect her to.

Like she was some housewife that had nothing better to do than keep house and wait for him to come home to her. To someone who had never had the slightest inclination towards the domestic it was unthinkable.

But whenever she mentioned it to him or suggested that he cut back his time at the bar he looked at her mystified and asked if it was some female thing.

She had to leave the flat the other day lest she punch him out for his obtuseness.

Whatever it was she was feeling, she was better away from Alec right now and so she had agreed to come to Crash with O.C. and Sketchy for a break.

The music pounded away, some 21st century group singing about missing a guy like a hole in the head, something that, unfortunately, Max understood right now. She felt the knot in the back of her neck relax and she smiled for what felt the first time in weeks.

"That's it, boo. Feel that music!" O.C. yelled as she saw Max's face. Max laughed as Sketchy went to get their drinks.

She and the dark woman had become firm friends, her sense of humour and loyalty sparking a feeling of kinship in the street-wise woman who took her under her wing and showed her around Seattle's streets and alleys.

She had a sort of no-nonsense attitude that appealed to Max whilst still maintaining her aura of fun and fancy. She dispensed advice as freely as she did insults and both were welcome to Max who found amusement in the witty put-downs. It was like fighting with Alec… the old Alec who had time to fight with her.

Max took a deliberate breath and pushed him out of her mind. She had some serious dancing to do.

She let herself be dragged onto the dance floor by O.C. and let the fast beat soothe her troubled soul as she danced away, her movements stiff until she closed her eyes and just followed the beat, unaware of the attention that her seductive movements garnered. Raising her arms above her head and letting her hips sway Max gave herself over the music.

---

The roar of the crowds was like a pure burst of adrenaline and he took a deep breath hearing the chants. Chants of his name that beckoned to him like a prayer to a god.

This was what he had longed for all those years when he had been just another number. Another nameless, faceless denizen of hell ready and willing to do whatever dirty work the equally nameless and faceless bosses demanded that they do.

A lifetime of killing and crawling through mud and hoops to do what they had been told. A lifetime of nothing but hard labour with no thanks and less reward.

He had been pushed around and pissed on, bruised, bullied and beaten, denigrated and discarded and now, finally, after all those years of torment, he was where he was supposed to be.

Looked up to, adored, praised for the feats that he could do and the way that he could do them. Those people in the crowds knew who he was and wanted to be him.

It was heady stuff and he relished every catcall and wolf whistle.

Like he had been taught he pushed away all of the bad things that happened, the bad thoughts that encroached and concentrated on becoming one with his DNA. He was going to beat them all and show Manticore who he was.

That was what he was doing, what Max couldn't understand. Every time he got into that ring he wasn't fighting some 'Freddy Fingers' or 'Marty McSuperfly', he was in the ring with Manticore.

He beat Trainer Banns.

He bloodied Trainer Reilly.

He lampooned Lydecker.

He mangled the medics.

He punished Psy-Ops and most damningly and satisfying of all he ravaged Renfro and tore her limb from limb.

He was finally master of his own destiny but no matter how hard he hit he was still a butterfly flapping its wings against the face of his invisible opponent.

Manticore was still out there in some form or other and wouldn't rest until they found him and brought him home. They wouldn't rest until they had poked and prodded him and found out what made him tick and made him so different from his twin.

Or was he really so different? Ben tore out teeth and sacrificed to the Blue Lady as penance.

Alec paid his own way in the blood of his opponents and relished each slap of flesh against flesh and drop of sweat. Taken forcibly or in the ring, what separated him from his 'brother'.

"Times come, champ! Get out there and wow 'em!"

Alec was struck out of his reverie and nodded, his mind suddenly back in the game as he stood and stripped off his shirt.

He would go out there and wow the crowds. He would get his accolades and his revenge. He would maintain his body strong and as fit as they intended and when they came for him he would be ready. He would show them. Show them all.

But until then Alec was fighting his own ghosts.

---

Max sagged into her seat and grinned as Sketchy waved wearily to her.

"'Smy friend Macsh."

Max raised her eyebrows and turned to O.C, "I think Sketchy is smashed!"

"Always," O.C. laughed and Sketchy frowned.

"Not alwaysh. Anyways I wanna drink to my carr… carree… job."

O.C. chuckled, "What'dya want to drink ta Normal for, fool?"

"Nuh, nuh, wanna work for Newworldweekly."

"Who?" Max shared O.C.'s amusement at her friend's drunken ramblings.

"New World weekly," O.C. filled in, "it's a tabloid with crazy stories, like that one they ran a few days ago of that dog-man loose in Seattle."

"Dog-man?" Max sat up straighter.

"Yeshh," Sketchy pointed, off centre. "Dog-man, they didn't find him. Bet he went to the shhewersh."

"The what now?"

"Shheweresh, unnergroun'"

"Sewers," Max said carefully. "The dog-man went into the sewers?"

"Wanna go to tha bridge," Sketchy pouted.

"What bridge?" Max's voice was slightly more harsh and Sketchy blinked at her.

"The old cavern bridge, rumoursh sayshh that the govern… men… men… people are shhhooting mutantsh there."

Max's breathing went shallow, "Where is this bridge?"

"Thata way." Sketchy pointed over his shoulder and Max turned to O.C.

"Where is the Cavern Bridge?"

"About ten minutes hike over south of Sector Eleven."

Max grabbed her leather jacket and leaned over, "Gotta jet, see you guys tomorrow."

"Okay," O.C.'s eyes narrowed but she didn't say anything else. She knew that her new girl had her secrets and O.C. was content to wait until Max spelled out what they were. She could be patient until then.

"Night, Max!" Sketchy waved and promptly fell off his chair to the ground.

O.C rolled her eyes, "Fool!"

-

Max bit her lip as she walked out of the club; Sector 11 was far enough away that she didn't want to walk there. What she needed was some mode of transportation that was mobile and easily manoeuvrable. She had left her own gorgeous Ninja back at home and she didn't want to go back there just yet in case Alec was there.

He would try to talk her out of going to the bridge or insist on tagging along.

This was her adventure, she didn't need him along.

Her eyes scanned the outside and a grin slid over her features as a tall biker got off his hog and eyed her.

"Hey baby, want something' powerful between your legs?"

"Actually, yeah."

His eyebrows shot up and a leer covered his face right before Max's fist did. His eyes rolled back inside his head and he fell back like a chopped tree, crumbling to the floor.

Max knelt by his side and took his keys. "Thanks."

She reached the Harley Davidson and ran her hands along the smooth black chrome. "Sweet." But not as sweet as _her_ baby.

The engine purred over as she edged it down the street and off towards Sector 11. She could feel the vibrations of the powerful machine as the wind grabbed her hair, tossing it all over and her face lit up with exhilaration.

"Oh, I so could do this all day!"

The journey to Sector 11 was much shorter thanks to the speed of Max's new toy and as she reached the border she got off the bike and hid it in some bushes. Now that she was here, she wasn't sure what it was that she was looking for; maybe some sign that her family had been through here, or even some tracks to show which way they had gone. What she wouldn't give to see Zan, Dek or Pix. Even Anna would—possibly—be welcome at this point.

But would they have left tracks. They were the best of the best after all. Surely they'd realise that she would be looking for them. They knew how mothering she could be—worse than Sunny sometimes.

She was fierce when it came to protecting her family and had shown that on more than one occasion.

She recalled once on a mission in the East she had been with Sunny when some locals had taken more than a passing interest in the blonde beauty yelling and crowding around them offering camels and jewels for the lady.

They had been alone and outnumbered but she had fought like a demon to stop them from taking Sunny away and had taken the shaken beauty back to base before taking out her frustrations on Alec.

Alec—her all- purpose punching bag. Max half grinned before melting into the trees.

She moved into the woods and made her way south, knowing that O.C had said that it was ten minutes hike away, which to a transgenic was half that time. Max kept silent and kept her eyes peeled for anything unusual or any sign…

She turned a corner and saw two guards dressed in full camouflage gear with high powered assault rifles. With her usual grace she edged back into the protective shadow of the trees.

Max used her feline sight to check out the weapons, both guards held M16A2 rifles with about 550 meter range which meant that she was well within their sights.

She ducked down in the foliage, glad that it was dark and so she had the advantage here.

There was a reason that they were watching the woods, something that they didn't want people to see and that meant that there was something that she wanted to see—desperately.

Max grinned and reached above her head to the sturdy branch, pulling herself up onto the hard wood. She quickly scaled to the top of the tree peering between the leaves to see what it was that they were so eager to keep her from. About a few hundred yards away from the two soldiers there were inconsistencies in the foliage which meant camouflage tents— a camp.

But a camp for what?

Max crouched down and used her powerful legs to propel her into the next tree, careful to avoid landing heavily or breaking branches which would give away her position. It was times like this that she missed the obstacle course at Manticore, soaring through the trees, making the others jealous and springing from one step to the next, letting the wind rush through her hair in her attempt to beat her own speed; because none of the others had ever been able to.

Max grinned as she curled herself around the rough trunk, staring down at the guards standing below her under the tree totally unaware that she was even there.

Max launched herself into the next tree and the next, keeping a slow steady rhythm so that she didn't alert them to her position. As she neared the irregular foliage Max slid down the tree she was in and dropped to the floor in a crouch, her feline sight helping her out as she watched the encampment.

Set in a small clearing, the encampment was kitted out fully with commandos in military paraphernalia, camouflage tents and covered trucks. It was the full operation and as Max ducked down she could see at least eight military outfits with full arms guarding the perimeter, there was a small duty office by the entrance to the clearing which led out to the road were the trucks had obviously come in.

Max watched carefully as the guards changed over and the men walked through the camp. It was obviously a serious assignment by the way they were all acting. She followed one man who was holding a clipboard with her eyes as he entered the biggest tent. There was a satellite linkup and cable outside the entrance flap leading her to believe that there were electronics at work inside there. Outside the tent was a large computer set up with a beam that aimed at the air and Max glowered as she realised that it was set to signal into the sky, a kind of Morse code that they had been taught to look for if something were to happen to the facility.

Max hadn't seen it but then again there were the lights from the city to interfere. The problem was that many of the others could have seen it and if what Sketchy was saying was true then they had been called to their deaths.

Max wouldn't let that happen anymore.

With her eyes narrowed Max stepped into the camp and darted out of the way of a guard walking the perimeter.

Max crept up behind him and twisted his neck, lowering him to the floor as the snap of his broken neck sounded loud in her hearing. She grabbed his gun and tiptoed over to the next tent, hiding behind it so that the other guard wouldn't see her.

She stepped forward to move closer to the signaller but heavy footsteps made her dart back into the shadows.

Her heart sank like lead as she recognised the voice that sounded loud in the clearing.

It was a voice that had struck terror into her as a child, fear into her as an adult and sparked pure hatred as an escapee. A voice that had ordered her to be abused and abandoned; her team-mates to be killed, to be dissected and dismissed.

It was a voice that was more familiar than her own and caused her heart to sink.

Colonel Donald Lydecker. Judge, jury and executioner.

She peered around the corner to verify her ears and grimaced.

It was Lydecker, stalking out into the clearing like he owned the world and knew it would bow to him, his 'game' face on demanding respect, fear and blind obedience.

Lydecker turned back to his companion and smiled sarcastically.

"I trust you can have that report to me by morning, Agent White?"

"Of course, Colonel," the other man said icily. "Just remember that you may be from the committee but I am in charge of this operation—and that Cyril was _my_ find."

"Of course, son."

Max felt rather than saw the man grit his teeth at that address.

"I assure you, Colonel, that I have matters well in hand. My work at the CIA comes in handy on more than one occasion and might I remind you that while your… efforts for ten years resulted in less than three members recaptured, I have had more success in three hours. Our rates of capture are satisfactory. Cyril is a dedicated member of our project and his bio-weapon will be reaching its fullest potential soon."

Lydecker tapped the smaller man's chest with a manila folder, "It's still not perfect though. And I don't approve of your methods at all, Agent."

Max frowned at Lydecker's tone. It almost sounded like he was afraid of this guy. But Lydecker wasn't afraid of anything he had always been the alpha and omega, his word more damning than any god. God may work in mysterious ways but Lydecker would see you dead in his own time.

The idea that Lydecker would even pay attention to this man made him an enemy worthy of watching.

No matter if the guy was CIA or NSA or whatever, Max had known the Colonel well enough to know that a man he was wary of was a man to watch. Max found herself almost worried about Agent White and vowed to find out all she could about the man.

"But at least I still have a plan. Then they'll be falling over themselves to come back… to safety."

"Ahh yes, your plan. I'll leave this… and Cyril in your capable hands, Agent White."

"See that you do."

Lydecker turned on his heel and walked away with Agent White glaring at him.

Come back? He has to mean the transgenics. He wants to recapture them all.

Max swallowed, this was bad. This was really bad. The ones that he was talking about included her family and people that she cared about, like Joshua and there was no way that she was going to let Lydecker and this… upstart hurt her people.

Max waited until White had gone back inside the tent and she crept out, heading to the signaller and tapping in a few commands and codes. She half- grinned to herself as the message bleeped and was inputted and then she slipped back into the shadows, heading for the trees again.

Max was halfway back to her bike when she heard the explosion and she grinned fully at the pretty fire coming from the self-destructed signaller.

They would learn that Max wasn't someone to be messed with—especially when family was involved.

----

* * *

_**Thanks to those who reviewed by name;**_

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_**Angel Of Darkness231**_


	7. 6 What signifies? Part 2

**PLEASE READ A/N- Hey all. I have noticed a drop off in reviews lately. I know thatI haven't been updating as fast asI used to (illness, new job, more illness, family issues, comp problems and yet more illness) but is interest waning in this series? Is it getting boring? Less funny? Too depressing? Interactions not working anymore?**

**What would make it better for you?**

I am writing for you guys so if you don't tell me what you want,I can't give it you.

**_Please review._**

**

* * *

**

**Chapter 6 What signifies 2?**

Alec stumbled into the kitchen and reached blearily for the coffee pot. He was exhausted and needed his caffeine if he was to function tonight in the ring. He'd waited up for Max last night, but she hadn't come home by the time he fell asleep and he was worried. That is, until he looked at the couch to see her curled up on the end staring at her hands.

"Max?"

"We have to talk."

Alec sighed and gazed longingly at the coffee pot before sitting on the edge of the sofa and facing her. "You know, historically speaking, nothing good has ever come from those words."

Max looked up at him and smiled sadly, "We have a problem."

"What?"

"Last night I was at Crash and—"

"Crash?"

"A night club," Max waved and carried on not seeing Alec do a double take. "Anyway, I was told that there had been some… questionable activity out past sector 11."

"What were you doing in a nightclub?"

"Strip tease, Alec. Pay attention!" Max snapped. "This is serious. I went out to Sector 11 and there was a military encampment." She took a deep breath. "Lydecker was there with some CIA agent called White. I went to the library to do some checking up on this White, guy— Ames White— flawless career. Notorious for his success. Alec, he wants the transgenics. He wants us dead."

Alec blinked. "So? Max we're X5. More than that we're Special Ops, there is no way that they can catch us."

Max nodded, "Rule one of being in hiding is to keep you head down. Going to ground means just that, keeping low and out of the public eye."

"Standard procedure," Alec shrugged.

"So billboard coverage proclaiming 'Monty Cora fights tonight' isn't exactly what I'd call low key, Alec!" Max held up the notice that she had found on the way home pinned to a lamp post. It was a red flyer with 'Monty Cora' swiped across it in bold black lettering.

Alec took the paper and laughed gently, "Would you relax."

"I'll relax when you cover that barcode, Monty Cora!"

Alec leaned over and draped an arm over her shoulder. "Listen Maxie, this guy White, maybe he's CIA, maybe he's some hot-shot government guy. But that's all he is, a guy. A human guy. We're more than match for him."

Max turned to him and looked intently. "The Colonel isn't some teeny government agent without a clue. He knows us. He knows me. If anyone can find us, it's Lydecker."

Alec sighed and said softly: "And how many of the '09ers has he found?"

Max stiffened and he continued, "sorry, Maxie, but its true. Your rugrat brothers and sisters stayed off his radar for ten years and they had minimal training. We are the best of the best. We're not going to be caught."

Max tossed her hair and moved away from him. "I'd feel better if you weren't quite so high profile."

Alec sighed and raked a hand through his hair. "Max, there is nothing to worry about."

Max shrugged off the hand that he placed on her shoulder and walked away, not really wanting him to touch her right now. Why wouldn't he listen to her? Lydecker was bad news, he had been regarded as the bogie-man by all of her Unit and he wasn't just a figment of her imagination. Max had countless memories of her childhood, innumerable experiences of pain and suffering and the one constant was Lydecker, standing by impassively watching her as she writhed in pain.

Alec didn't understand that. Renfo, while being a prize bitch in her own right, had never been that kind of imposing authority figure. She had never actively watched them being abused or instigated it, Renfro never had an active role in their lives. While they could state categorically that Manticore was bad, Seattle had never been the deepest level of hell like Wyoming.

Alec had never been held under the tank by his Unit, he had never watched his unit-mate be sliced and diced on an autopsy table. Alec had never watched Lydecker turn away whilst some man broke her arm and leg to see how long it would take to set.

Max closed her eyes as one memory swamped over her.

_She stood by the edge of the river shivering in her tiny cotton nightshift as it flapped in the stiff winter breeze. The temperature was hitting the minus' and even her transgenically enhanced body couldn't fight the cold as it seeped into her bones. Zack edged closer, keeping an eye out in case Lydecker turned quickly and saw him attempt to give comfort and warmth to his little sister._

"_It'll be okay, Maxie," he vowed as she couldn't help the shudder that ran over her body._

"_Cold." She slammed her mouth shut so that her teeth didn't chatter and give her a headache._

_Before he could answer Colonel Lydecker turned around and faced them all. _

"_An army marches whatever the condition, your enemy will try to conserve themselves in extreme weather, they will stay put and be less on guard as they will consider you to do the same. This gives you the element of surprise. Your task is to make it back to Manticore within the timeframe of twenty minutes. Any time over that will result in punishment, physical. You have twenty minutes from when the flare goes up." And with that Lydecker turned sand left the fifteen soldiers standing in the middle of the icy forest in thin gowns staring after him in horrified silence._

"_We're gonna die!" Eva stated._

"_We're not going to die," Ben said and Zack nodded._

"_That's right."_

"_We're going to freeze." Ben finished. "Death would be quick."_

_Zack frowned at him as Merie started to cry._

"_Shut up, Ben. We are not going to freeze or die. Pair up and huddle to conserve body heat. Syl, Krit, take point, we need to see when the Colonel hits the flare gun. Merie, Jack, you two get in the middle."_

_Max nodded, Merie and Jack were the weakest, even though she was the youngest, and they needed to be protected from the bitter cold._

_Ben came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her, the smell of fresh leaves filling her with comfort. Zane edged up on the other side and Zack let him into the huddle as they pressed their shivering bodies close together. Jace, Brin and Ash slid to the floor and draped over each other, like a pile of cats and were quickly followed by Tinga and Wade. Jondy crept over to Max and was immediately let into the hug. Seth rolled his eyes and jumped up and down on the balls of his feet trying to keep warm as he watched out for the signal from Syl and Krit, Eva stood next to him, her severe eyes gauging the reactions of her fellow Unit._

_Syl and Krit raced back towards them, their thin gowns fluttering and their breaths freezing as soon as they exhaled._

"_Signal's up, lets move out!" Syl said decisively and Zack nodded at his second in command._

"_Okay, everyone grab a partner and head into the brush."_

_Before Zack could turn, Ben had Max's hand in his and he was pulling her into the forest with Zack growling behind them._

"_He's going to be angry at you," Max warned and Ben grinned._

"_His anger will keep him warm."_

_Max giggled despite her discomfort as the leaves and hard braches stuck to her bare feet and scratched her tender soles. It was exhilarating just running… no, blurring, through the trees with the wind in her hair and her siblings by her side and—_

_Somewhere to her left Wade screamed._

_Ben stopped abruptly, "What was that?"_

_Wade screamed again, his voice sounding like a wild animal, trapped and in pain._

_This time it was Max who grabbed Ben's hand as they tore through the undergrowth to reach Wade There was another scream, this time it was Merie and Max sped up trying to reach her siblings._

"_Watch out!" they heard Eva yell. "Feet!"_

"_Feet?" Ben queried as they reached a clearing. Too late they understood what Eva had shouted as they skidded onto a sea of broken glass and nails._

_Max felt a scream bubble up in her throat as sharp sharps pierced her already sore feet and she launched herself backwards, out of the clearing to land just on the outskirts. She looked back to see that someone had emptied an entire factory full of broken glass and sharp metal objects into the clearing. It looked just like a crystal lake, glittering in the moonlight, but shadowed by the trees. Drops of blood marred several pieces where she had stood and where Ben was painstakingly making his way back to her, droplets of red shiny liquid sliding from beneath his toes. Eva stood on one side of the clearing with Jack and Jondy, motioning for Max and Ben to be careful. _

"_Please, we need help!" called Brin from inside the woods and they all stood up shakily on torn feet as they edged around the trees, all sense of fun and frolicking gone._

"_I. hate. Lydecker." Ben grimaced as he hobbled, trying to keep Max going whilst holding back tears of pain._

"_Centre," Max reminded him. "Centre the pain, cut yourself off from it. It's not happening to you."_

"_I. hate. Lydecker." he repeated and again, "I. hate. Lydecker." Every step was punctuated by Ben's mantra and Max could feel herself echoing it as they hurried towards the muffled moans and cries of their brother._

_They rounded the corner and saw what all the fuss was about. Someone had placed a bear-trap in the middle of the clearing. A huge hole that had been covered over by leaves to hide its appearance and they had put a large metal trigger trap inside, which Wade had fallen onto. It had slammed shut on his leg, the sharp, jagged metal teeth biting almost cleanly through his tiny leg._

"_Wade?" Zack called. "What's your status?"_

"_Hurt," Wade cried, tears falling down his cheeks. "M-m-my head is spinning and I f-feel sick, I think… I may have concussion. My leg is s-s-severed clear through to the bone… maybe b-beyond and… and… I can't climb out."_

"_There's no way down," Syl pointed out to Zack, tears in her own eyes._

"_We need to head back to Manticore," Zack said. "The Colonel will send someone back to help out."_

"_NO!" screamed Wade. "The Nomalies will get me, alone out here."_

_Zack spared a furious glare at Ben, who scowled back at him. _

"_They won't get you, one of us will stay to make sure. Volunteers, Ben?"_

_Ben shook his head and Max tightened her grip on his hand. She knew that the Nomalies were more real to Ben than to any of them and there was no way that Ben wanted to stay out here._

"_I will," she volunteered._

"_No," Zack shook his head. "Krit?"_

_Krit didn't look at all enthusiastic about it but nodded and let go of Syl's hand. "All right."_

_Zack motioned for them all to move out and this time to go slow, keeping an eye out for any other traps that someone may have laid for them_

_They actually made it back to Manticore in less than twenty minutes, even with their sidetrack and Zack saluted Colonel Lydecker who barely looked up from his coffee._

"_Report, 599."_

_Zack swallowed, "Mission partially successful, sir. Thirteen made it back in time. One is injured in the field and I left one man standing guard in case of… enemy attack."_

"_We are on Manticore grounds, 599, who are the enemy?"_

_Zack stiffened, "Unknown, sir. X5- 711 and 400 are located southwest of inner quadrant 3a. Just under half a click away."_

_Lydecker stared at his paper, "Go clean up."_

_Zack paused, "Shall I lead the retrieval squad, Sir?"_

"_We'll find them in the morning."_

_At Merie's quiet gasp, Zack knew he had to try again, even if he was punished for it. "Sir, X5-400 was heavily injured, he may not last until morning and that would result in loss of billions in R and D."_

_Lydecker finally looked up."X5-400 wouldn't be in the situation he is in now if he followed the signs correctly and was aware of the dangers. As it is all those of you who didn't avoid the sea of glass are down to half rations until you learn to be on guard at all times. They don't warn you about traps in the middle of war. Now leave."_

_Zack saluted, his face pale and they all walked out; some heading to the medical bay and some for the showers each praying to the Blue Lady that their friends would return safe in the light of day._

_Wade didn't last until morning._

Alec would never be able to understand that, Trainers may have been cruel and sadistic at Seattle. But it seemed they were sent to Wyoming for training in how to be pure evil. And none were as bad as Lydecker—even his name made Max shiver. She wrapped her arms around herself.

Max grimaced as Alec came up behind her. He had watched while she was lost in thought and he felt guilty for dismissing her so quickly. He loved her and he knew that she loved him, it was new and he didn't want to screw things up.

"Okay, Max, I tell you what. Why don't you come to the ring tonight? I'll have a word with Helen about not publishing my fights and you can make sure that there are no military around to come and take me away, okay? If you are still uncomfortable after that, well, I'll quit the ring."

Max turned in his arms, "You mean that?"

He gave her that lopsided smile that she adored so much, "I promise. After all you mean more to me than those sweaty guys."

Max leaned up, her heart in her eyes as she kissed him, pouring all her love and worries into the touch of lips on lips.

Alec pulled her head back and smoothed his satiny lips over hers, and nibbled down her jaw line to suck on her collar bone, pulling sensations from her centre.

"I like sweaty guys," Max muttered, her face lighting up in teasing. "We have an hour before the ring, wanna see?"

Alec's eyes darkened with desire before he hauled her up into his arms, "Oh yeah!"

----

Ames White glared at Lydecker as they both stood in front of the ruined signal box.

They stared at each other in silence as if daring the other to be the first to break the stalemate.

Otto looked between them and then back up at the broken sign and back again. He sighed.

"Can I get someone to sweep up the mess?"

Two soldiers, eager to be out of the firing line hastily swept away to find a cleaning crew, leaving White and Lydecker still glaring at each other.

"So," White said with a faux smile. "Any ideas how this happened?"

"Malfunction?" Lydecker replied dryly.

White twitched. "A gun malfunctioned? Or the signaller shot itself?"

"Perhaps it had been depressed."

Otto choked on a laugh keeping away from White's furious gaze.

"I hardly think this is the time for levity. Someone came in here, dismantled the signaller and crept out again… all without being seen. It doesn't take a genius to see that it must have been one of your 'kids'."

"Clever aren't they?" was Lydecker's response.

Otto backed away as his boss went red.

"Clever?" White hissed. "Those… monsters destroyed our beacon."

Lydecker shrugged, "We'd established that it wasn't working anyway."

White took a calming breath and tried to emulate Lydecker's placid manner. "Fine."

Lydecker's lips twitched as he turned, "How are things going with our contact?"

"My contact, Cyril," White said smoothly, "has set up his little experiments and says that phase one should be set for Thursday."

Lydecker gave him a look "Is that another three step program?"

It was White's turn to smirk. "You'd know all about those kind of programs, wouldn't you, _sir_?"

Lydecker stiffened and White thanked his contacts for giving him the file on Lydecker. So, they thought that they could foist an alcoholic misfit on him did they? Not a chance.

He grinned at the furious Lydecker and turned back to the destroyed tower. "It's a good thing that one of us, at least, has some idea of how to proceed."

"You honestly think that Cyril's plans will take care of everything?"

"It's a start," White snapped. "Once we are able to target a pathogen to… locate your X's and render them unconscious for long enough for us to retrieve them—"

"This pathogen, you are sure that it only targets and renders them unconscious. It doesn't harm them in any way."

"They won't feel a thing," White turned his back and smirked. "Trust me."

----

Max smiled sweetly as the man handed her a bill and thanked her for the package.

"Thanks for using Jam Pony!" she trilled as he shut the door and the smile faded off her face. She massaged her aching face. "Damn who knew being nice was so exhausting!"

Max walked out of the building and flopped down on the steps looking up at the mid-day sun.

It was so damn hot and she was tired, physically, emotionally and mentally. She had been looking for her unit, her family for about a month and nothing. Not a glimpse, not a sign—nada. She had told them to go to ground, and they had. So far underground that she despaired of ever finding them.

Max pulled off her baseball cap and sighed heavily.

She was tired, both physically and emotionally and all she wanted to do was to curl up into a ball in Alec's arms and sleep for a month.

Unfortunately, she knew that Alec wouldn't be there when she got home.

Like he hadn't been there the past three nights… the past week or so. And even when he was… he wasn't. It was like he was pouring all of his time and energy into fighting in the ring.

He told her that he was just trying to make enough money for them to be comfortable, but the truth was that maybe… just maybe he was bored with her already?

He said that he loved her, and they made love with as much passion as they had the first time but she couldn't help thinking that this was some guy thing.

O.C. had said to her once that once guys got what they wanted they lost all interest in having it.

Was that what had happened with Alec? Had he pursued her because she had been the one woman at Manticore that had said no? Did he want her because she was the unattainable '09er? Now that he had had her was there no longer enough challenge, had he tired of her; lost interest?

Or maybe even he had found some other girl—there were plenty of them hanging around the bar and fight club for him to chose from and she could attest that he was the best looking male there by a long shot and he was the prize fighter. Perhaps… perhaps… perhaps.

Max shook her head and brought her water bottle up to her lips for a long swallow.

Perhaps she was reading too much into this. It could be that Alec enjoyed what he did so much and to be honest, didn't he have reason to cut loose and chill out as much as she did?

Maybe even more so since…

Max shook herself again and stood up determined to stop these ridiculous sepulchral thoughts. Things would get better soon. They had to.

She put her drink in her bag and walked into the street, getting on her bike, still lost in thoughts about Alec.

As she turned the corner there was a sound of a car horn and screech of tires and before she knew what had happened she was sailing in the air. Training and instinct took over and she somersaulted in mid-air and landed on her feet with her arms in attack position. Her hair flipped over her shoulder as she scanned the gathering crowds.

A car door burst open and a tall dark haired man jumped out.

"Oh my God, are you okay?"

"Fine," she said quickly. "In…uh… Jujitsu they show us how to take a fall."

"Jujitsu?" he laughed. "With moves like that you could be a stunt-woman or in a circus."

"So you try to run me over and then insult me?"

He grinned, "Sorry, couldn't resist. I need to check you over." He reached for her and she darted back.

"I think not."

"It's okay I'm a Paramedic."

"Are not."

"Am too."

"Are not."

"Am too."

"Are too."

"Am no… damn, almost got me," he laughed out loud. "Well, you sound fine."

"Told you," Max smiled sweetly.

"I'm Rafer."

She wrinkled her nose, "That's a name?"

He nodded, "It's short for Raphael."

"I'm Max."

"Oh and that's better than Rafer? At least mine is gender specific."

"Bite me!" Max laughed. She liked this guy. He was cute but he was also funny and seemed sincere.

"Sorry I made you fall off your bike. Do you need a lift somewhere?"

Max shook her head, "I'm not too far from work."

"Where would that be?"

"Jam Pony… why?"

Rafer shrugged, "Curious."

Max eyed him oddly and then shrugged. "Well, I have to get back."

"It was nice running into you," he said straight faced and Max glared at him.

"Smart ass."

----

White tapped his fingers on the dashboard and glared out of the front windshield. His phone was being twirled in his fingers as he stared impassively.

He had been in company of Donald Lydecker for less than a month and already he was ready to commit murder… more murder.

The man was impossible and he was fast becoming fed up with his superior attitude. But that wasn't what was bothering him the most.

Cyril.

The man was unconventional and an oddball. His theory was sound and he was good at lateral thinking. In fact his idea was brilliant. What he actually proposed was a species specific weapon geared to a certain genome which would differentiate between ethnic groups.

In short, once deployed it could, potentially, wipe out a whole race from any area. It was inspired and the most useful thing to come out of Seattle in years.

There was no problem with the theory and the application seemed sound. The problem was that Cyril's research into the specific DNA strands that separated transgenics from humans could have potentially… embarrassing connotations for himself. Who's to say that that fool Sandeman didn't adapt the DNA of his fellows into these scum. That would mean that once the virus that Cyril manufactured was spread, it would be more than the transgenics who would collapse.

Embarrassment was not an option here.

The very fact that Lydecker knew about his meeting with the eccentric scientist left him more uneasy than he would ever own to.

He wasn't scared of the ex-alcoholic with his delusions of grandeur but it paid to be wary of someone who had that much governmental responsibility and clout behind him.

The very fact that he knew about Cyril meant that he was far more connected that White had first thought and the fact that he had let White know this meant that he was about as impressed with White as White was with him. In other words not much.

---

Alec crept into the room and silently shut the door behind him. He didn't want to wake Max up if she was already asleep.

He heard breathing coming from the sofa and edged over to see Max fast asleep with a book on her chest moving gently up and down with her breathing.

She looked so adorable just laying there and he snuck over to stare down at her waves of tenderness washing over him.

Her hair curled around her ears and her face was young and carefree, sweet and innocent. And totally devoid of the usual kick-ass persona that wrapped around her most times.

He knew that she was mad at him at the moment. She wanted so badly to find their unit-mates and spent most of her energy during the day out on her bike looking for them, bring back pittance from that 'job' that she had picked up.

He still didn't understand why she had gone in for that job at all. It wasn't like his didn't bring in enough money and he loved it when he came home to see her and she was actually there. Which was happening with less and less frequency recently.

Alec let his hand fall to her raven tresses and debated waking her to come to bed. A soft sigh escaped her lips and his mind was made up, he sank to his knees and kneeled in front of her just watching his girl sleep.

----

* * *

Special Thanks to those who have continued to review faithfully. You all mean so much. Thank you always.

* * *

Jade-K- Hi darling, they do have their reasons and things will et worse before they get better.

Natacup82- I do now, thanks. Hope you are okay too.

Sigma1- Oh good I was worried you were going to come after me with a burger… don't ask.

Btm452- Hey sweets.

Tina N Blair- I am glad because the reviews seem to be trailing off somewhat, I'm wondering if people are getting bored with this?

Ganko- Yeah Manticore has a lot to answer for. The drive me crazy!

Fangedangel- LOL, no she is not pregnant. Just annoyed.

Angel of Darkness231- As long as you keep reviewing.

HisVampira- Sorry but Malecy goodness is subject to disturbance at the moment. Normal Max/Alecy love will be resumed shortly.

Guest Type person- Families love to share don't they? Well bugs anyway! LOL, yes Max's Shark dna is biting them both on the ass.

Natasqi- No, not heat although I haven't forgotten that plot point. Her DNA is playing up. It will come out soon.

Lotamoxie- I can promise you that Max meets up with two of our xs in Chapter 8!!!

Caboodle- lazy is better than none!

Moonlite star- things pick up from here on out. So does the action!

Geminangel- Much better thanks and ready to write again.

Raven- Max is being pissy because of her Shark DNA and yes, she will sort it out soon. Alec's behaviour makes more sense to me here than it ever did in the show.

Ayaren- Hi! Glad you could join us on this, hope you like the next parts as well. Who is your fave character?

SGOU- Bless ya, my mom fractured her tailbone and doing anything was excruciating for about a month. You have my sympathy. Very good points about my angst—this is really low level and things always get worse before they get better. You know me! I think, like the show, Alec is enjoying the freedom he has and just wants to take it easy for a while before facing his responsibilities. Don't worry I'll kick his ass before long. His demons do have a few issues to sort out, don't they? I may have things covered but sometimes it does take people to point things out that I have missed. Which is why I love you guys!!

Shygirl1- Cheers pet.

Senorita-DLH- very important to the overall story but things pick up soon.

Lynn- 50670- Josh is off with Carrot having a blast!

NoAngel- I added more Alec in here just for you, hope you like it! I think that now Xmas is over people will be updating more.

Elfie- Slight wrong end of stick. Alec just isn't thinking just yet and NO RACHEL can I state that clear enough. That whole thing made me heave! Hug him all you want, he needs it right now, bless him! Someone else is set to sabotage Cyril but I won't spoil who!

Ronda TIW- I was so into Buffy that the quotes are almost part of my brain now and slip into whatever I am doing. Its crazy!

Erak- Hey there, I am so glad that you did discover this and have started to read (wow that's a lot to do- Left Behind, Moving Ahead/Moving Alongside, Surging Forwards/Pressing Onwards—I'm tired just thinking about it.) Well we meet some of the 09ers in PO soon and then they will gradually all make their way over here! Who is your fave character?


	8. 7 Watch this left

**AN- **Okay people will probably hate me for this chapter and Alec's odd behaviour but PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE remember that I am a M/A shipper so have Fayth in me and I will make it all better… in time.

Thank you to so many for reviewing. Many new names and my old faithfuls who I adore. Thank you so very much for making me feel better.

* * *

**Chapter 7- Watch this left.**

When Max had first met Alec he had been a sensible and almost sedate young man—despite his sarcasm. It was only once he had learned to cut loose and finally feel that he could belong, did he turn into the lovable scamp that she adored. But she had never seen him look so much like an overenthusiastic puppy as he did at this moment.

He bounded towards her, his eyes lighting with glee and impish mischief. "Max, Max, Max, Max, Max."

"Alec," she hedged with a grin. "Nice to know that after ten years you still know my name."

"I'd know it in my sleep," he said huskily making her shiver and then he recalled his news. "Oh. But, Maxie, guess what?"

Her eyes lit up, "You've found one of the others?"

Alec started, "What? No! There's a state-wide elimination tournament in two weeks!"

Max froze. It wasn't the casual brushing off of her hope that he had found one of the others that made her blood run cold… although it did grate harshly on her heart; but his gleeful exuberance at this tournament.

"State-wide?"

"Yes!"

"As in all over Seattle… all over Washington?"

"Yes!"

"All fight clubs and bars would hear about this?"

"Yes!"

"Posters, flyers, leaflets, boards with contenders advertised all over Seattle?"

"Yes, Max!" Alec's voice was showing irritation.

"Billboards proclaiming that Monty-Cora is going to be there?"

Alex smirked, "Well, yeah. People will want to see me there."

"Oh, I don't doubt that," Max said. "Like Lydecker or maybe Agent White."

Alec rolled his eyes, "Oh, you are not still on that are you?"

Max's mouth set in a harsh line. Of course she was still on that. She had seen the camp, had seen Lydecker and Ames White. Why wasn't Alec taking her seriously on this? "What happened to laying low, Alec?"

"What happened to having some fun, Max? I don't remember you being this stuffy back at old M!"

Max's lips tightened, "Because back at 'old 'M'' they weren't hunting us down to shoot us!"

Alec rolled his eyes again making Max itch to smack him.

"Come on, Max, this is a great opportunity for me."

"Yeah, to get yourself killed! This isn't a game, Alec. We agreed that we lay low."

Alec stared at her in dismay. This was great news, why couldn't she see how important this was to him? He had been denied fun for so long in Manticore and now he had the opportunity to cut loose, do something fun Max was trying to drag him down. Okay, so she had seen some dinky little camp with some soldiers who wanted to round them up. But if they had had no success at catching the '09ers then what joy would they have with fully grown fully trained Special Ops? None. Max was making a big deal out of this through some long forgotten fear left over from her '09er days. There were two of them for Manticore's sake; there was no way that they would ever be caught. She was being too rigid; didn't she want them to have a life?

"No!" he said sharply, disappointment at her dismay making his voice more abrupt than normal. "_You_ agreed to lay low. Face it, Max, they don't care about us anymore. We haven't seen hide nor hair or anyone from Manticore. Your little conspiracy theory is just stopping us from having the life that we deserve."

Max shook her head in disbelief, "What dream world are you living in, Alec? It's time to wake up. The '09ers…"

"Here we go," he muttered under his breath and ignored her icy voice.

"The '09ers were missing for ten years and no one ever stopped searching for them. Ten years, Alec. It hasn't even been ten weeks. Dammit, do you even trust me at all? They. Will. Be. Looking. For. Us. To take us back. To lock us up. Reindoctrination and Psy-Ops. Have you forgotten what it's like there? Or maybe you've convinced yourself that it was all a dream and that this is your real life. Huh, Alec?"

"How the hell could I forget Psy-Ops, Max? It's your brothers' fault that I was in there in the first place."

Low blow and he knew it.

He raked his hands through his hair ignoring the hurt look on Max's face and feeling like a jerk because of it.

"Look, Maxie, I'm sorry. I didn't mean that. But you have to admit that we haven't seen a thing of Manticore at all since the escape."

"You haven't," she pointed out. "I saw the camp. I saw Lydecker and White. I saw the guns and the tracking and I heard their plans. You haven't got your head out of the ring long enough to even see me!"

"I like the ring," he stated.

His previous words suddenly rang through her.

"_Okay, Max, I tell you what. Why don't you come to the ring tonight? I'll have a word with Helen about not publishing my fights and you can make sure that there are no military around to come and take me away, okay? If you are still uncomfortable after that, well, I'll quit the ring."_

Max swallowed, "You never had any intention of quitting the ring, did you?" she said with sudden clarity.

Alec scratched his head and her heart sank.

"Did you?"

"You're overreacting, Max."

"Right," she laughed humourlessly before looking up at him. "You know, Alec. There was a time when you would never have questioned my judgement. When you did as I asked because you respected me and my choices."

"You're judgement is impaired by the circumstances," he said quietly. "You are too close to the situation to be impartial. It's too… too familiar to the '09er escape."

With that final slap Max turned on her heel and walked out of the apartment, slamming the door behind her.

-

Max's bike had been a balm to her soul and as she roared down the night-time streets she let the hum of the engine and the rush of air past her face soothe her soul, even if her temper remained.

How the hell could he say that?

He had known her for ten year. Ten damn years and it seemed that he had no more idea about her than he had when he had first waltzed into her room and called her a damn '09er.

Stupid damn male. Didn't he know how different the two situations were?

One was children fleeing from abuse and the other was adults fleeing destruction of their home.

In one they were equipped and knew that there was an outside world. They knew how to get by and blend in. They were looked for but there were so many more of them to make capture remote. They could hide, they could escape. They had training. They were safe as long as they were sensible.

The children in '09 had no comprehension of what was on the outside of Manticore. No idea what world lay out there for them but knew that they had to go. They had seen their family torn asunder and to pieces by those who had supposed to have protected them. Blood was burned into their memories and wounds deeper than would ever heal had been brandished into their souls. They were scared, both of what lay behind and what lay ahead. They had been hunted with dogs and guns and knew that each breath could be the last, aware that no one would mourn them.

The icy cold had burned and they knew that their old team-mates would be set upon them intent on ripping them to shreds.

They knew that it was the last time that they would see their family and that, if caught, it would mean death.

To Max's horror, tears were slipping down her face to sting in the wind.

It seemed she hadn't ever gotten over that day. But how could she?

How could she ever forget the shatter of glass as they fell to the cold ground? How could she forget the drone of helicopters and buzz of snow-machines? How could she forget Seth's screams or Jondy's raspy breath by her side? How could she forget the baying of hounds at her feet or the scrunch of marching feet on snow?

The pain of the ice.

_She felt her feet slide out from under her as she hit a slippery patch of ice but before she could right herself her sensitive toes registered cracks in the ice and suddenly she was plunged into icy water._

_FEARPAINCOLD_

_Can't breathe her mind blanked as the cold current washed around her, tugging her along. Max let her training take over, almost thankful to Lydecker for the times he had made her sit in the tank. She had the best time and could hold her breath for almost five minutes. She kicked out against the current with the strong legs and pushed herself up the surface._

**She was going to die.**

_FEARPAINCOLD_

_She kicked harder as her outstretched hands made contact with something glasslike above her head. It was the ice that she had fallen through. Her eyes opened and she could see through the ice as clear as if it were a window and she spied the stars in the sky._

_Turning on her back she dug her little fingernails into the ice and used them to crab crawl across the surface back to the hole that she had fallen through, all the time the current was pushing her and her exhausted muscles longed for her to just give up and give in._

**She was going to die.**

_PAINCOLDFEARNOFEARSOTIRED_

_The stinging cold started to numb her hands and she held on desperately fighting the current and slowly edging back to the only opening in the ice. Just as she thought that her lungs would give in her fingers found the edge of the hole and she grabbed the ice with both hands, the sharp edged sheets slicing her delicate fingers._

A screech of tires brought Max back to herself as she realised that she was wavering all over the road.

She righted herself and drove off the road and down an alleyway near to her.

Max switched off the engine and got off her bike, knowing that if she stayed on it she would have an accident and do damage to more than her fragile psyche.

Tears tracked her cheeks in her anger at Alec and at the memories that should have stayed hidden.

She leaned back against the wall and slammed her head back, feeling satisfaction at the hard stone behind her. Something to ground herself against.

Why was Alec being like this, couldn't he see that she had nothing but his best interests at heart?

Didn't he know that it had hurt so much to let him in and that he was tearing that trust to pieces?

She dashed tears from her eyes in her rage. She hated him! Hated him! Loved him. Stupid idiot.

Stupid, foolish idiot.

She was the ultimate fool. Max sniffed. She knew that letting people in hurt, had hurt time and again and yet she had gone ahead and let Alec in all the way. He possessed her heart, her soul and her body.

And it just wasn't enough.

He didn't trust her anymore.

That was the most damning thing; the one that let her know that somehow she had lost her way. She had always maintained the respect of her men in one form or another and they may have hated her but, by Manticore, they trusted her.

"Stupid!"

"'ere now, that ain't a nice thing ta be calling out."

Max's head spun to see who had spoken. The man was familiar. In fact, it was the same blond man who had tried to beat up Sketchy. What was his name again?

"What was your name? Fred?"

"Eddie, British Eddie," he smirked.

"Right, well, Eddie. I'm having a crappy day so do yourself a favour and piss off, okay?"

"Now, now. It would do for me ta leave you here all by your lonesome, now, would it, pet? A beautiful young girl like yerself. Not wiv me being a gentlemen and all."

"A gentlemen? I doubt that."

British Eddie's piercings glinted in the streetlight. "That 'urts, really it does."

"Tell it to someone who cares okay?" Max was suddenly really annoyed and in no humour to talk to someone who had issues with himself. No one sane would voluntarily do that to themselves, she thought as she stared at the nails in his head.

His two companions suddenly stepped out of the shadows looking menacing and dumb as only minions could.

Eddie smirked, "Now precious, I want to talk to ya about that bike of yours, you're in our turf and therefore whatever belongs ta you belongs ta us. Now hand the metal over and we're done."

Max looked down at the Ninja and then back up at Eddie, her hair half covering her face. "You want my bike? Come and get it."

Eddie was no fool and snapped his fingers, "Tuck, Bird, get the bike."

"Uh, Eddie?"

"Whot?"

The small greasy man looked askance at Max. "This is the girl that creamed us last time."

Eddie blinked and looked her up and down, "The bird that messed wiv our pony-boy?"

"One and the same," Max smirked. "Please don't mind me."

Tuck stared down at Bird and shrugged, "That's fine. Besides don't we have something to do?"

"Oh, you're not running scared of the little chit, are ya? Bloody poufs!"

Max didn't give warning and lashed out with her fists.

"Should've run when you had the chance," she mocked as Bird was slammed against the dumpster and fell in an undignified heap to the floor.

"Oy bitch!" yelled the taller of the two and Max turned as he picked up a nearby bin and threw it at her. She ducked, letting the grey metal slam into the wall with a heavy metallic twang.

She came up from her position and rammed her hip between Tuck's legs, thrusting him over her hip.

He fell on top of Bird with a grunt and his head cracked back against the pavement as Max let him fall.

Max turned to Eddie who stared at her with an unpleasant grin on his already unpleasant face.

"Well, well, not every day that you see a sweet little thing like you that can lift a big old lug like Tuck. Somin' tells me, princess, that you ain't as human as you look."

Max swallowed and stood straight. "Appearances may be deceiving," she said. "After all you look like an ignorant, metal faced asshole and yet… no, that's right."

Eddie glowered, "I know what you are, sweet."

"I doubt that."

Eddie smirked, "Well, I doubt your doubt. See, we've 'ad a few dealings wiv a certain company who was into, shall we say, human improvements. They offered us technology that could've made us a handsome fortune, had the kit and caboodle not gone up in smoke a few days later."

Max carefully schooled her features so that she didn't betray anything of what she was thinking. "What kind of technology?"

"Interested now?" Eddie mocked and looked down to where his cronies were groaning and trying to get up off the floor. "Simply put, precious, parts that grow once they've been sliced and diced. Comes from some animal DNA if you're hot on the subject. Useful when you're surrounded by sharp metal all day long." He pointed to his chin where the razor-sharp spikes protruded.

Max stepped back away from the two bodies as they got to their feet, "Why are you telling me this?"

"Just so's you know I know what you are, and that there are a few people that would pay a pretty penny to get a hold o' you, love."

"If you truly know what I am then I think you're an ass for dropping the hints when I could twist off your head like a ketchup bottle."

Eddie held up his hands with a wry laugh, "I'm just saying that we find ourselves at the self-same point, love. You want no trouble and neither do we. You stay out of our turf and I don't call my nice little friends in on ya."

Max smiled, "Although it was nice doing business with you fellas, my mom always told that I should never leave loose ends."

Eddie suddenly looked scared, "Now, now no need to get nasty."

"Then don't threaten me, Eddie, I don't play well with others," she had a thought, "But, I guess we can hang well this once if you do a favour for me in the meantime."

"What?"

"If you do hear of others like me, I wanna know about it."

"Watch your back, you mean?" Eddie rubbed his chin thoughtfully and winced as he cut himself, "What's in it for us?"

"You get not to die today," Max filled in with another grin.

"That's a fair trade, Eddie," Bird said.

"Shut up you nit," Eddie glared down at the greasy git and then back at Max, "Got yourself a deal, sweetheart."

"Don't call me that," Max grimaced, "And I'll consider laying off your turf as a personal favour."

Eddie bowed, "At your service, Ma'am." And with that he and his two bruisers walked back into the shadows and away.

Max sank back against the stone wall and tapped her head slightly against the brickwork.

Okay, so that was interesting. Apparently Manticore had a little more going on that she was aware of, she wondered what possible technology would entice Steelheads, because even though Eddie's remarks about regeneration were useful it was doubtful that they would have the power over the metal-studded fiends that they did.

Something else to ponder.

But she was almost thankful to Eddie. For a few minutes he had made her forget about Alec and the issues that waited for her when she got back.

She sighed as she picked up the Ninja and headed back for home.

-

Alec was waiting on the sofa when she waked in and he glanced up with a pensive expression.

He'd had a lot of time to think about what had happened before and he was so frustrated at himself and at Max. She seemed to want them to live in Manticore's shadow all the time and to be timid and afraid and all Alec wanted to do was to forget that the place had ever existed. He loved fighting in the ring as it was a place to work out his frustrations, to exhibit his talents and… oh yeah, to get money. Max was acting like his using his skills was a travesty and betrayal to the ethos of freedom her fuzzy '09er family had instilled in her. Caution he could understand but this never ending fear of being caught was beyond what he could reasonably understand. But whilst he had sat here he recalled her saying once that she had been in Psy Ops more than a couple of times. He had been in twice and that was more than enough.

He had finally decided that that was the reason for her actions; she was terrified of being put back in Psy Ops. She needed him to reassure her and take care and understand her, maybe she also needed to feel useful. After all she had been CO and now all she was doing was delivering packages. Maybe a heist would make her feel better. From the blabbing of one of his fellow fighters he knew of somewhere that was perfectly safe and boasted a cash incentive that would also serve as making Max feel useful again. With that in mind he stood up and smiled hesitantly. "Max."

Max pursed her lips and just looked back, not saying a word. She leaned against the doorframe and stuck her hands deep in her jeans pockets.

"Maxie?" he repeated.

"What do you want, Alec?"

He stood up and walked over to her, staring down at her up-turned face.

"I'm sorry, Maxie. I didn't mean to hurt you. You know that I love you."

Max bit her lip and let her gaze fall away from his earnest expression. She didn't need to see that right now, not while she was still hurt and annoyed at him.

Alec sighed and pinched her chin, forcing her eyes up to his again, "Maxie, I love you."

"Doesn't stop you from being an ass though, does it?"

He smirked, "Does anything?"

Max didn't want to be amused. She didn't want to laugh and smile at his eager boyish expression or enchanting smile. She rolled her eyes and Alec sighed.

"Look Max, what I said was out of order, okay, I know that. It's just that I love the fight club and I want to be par of this tournament. I understand that there are security risks involved and it'll take planning and sneakiness. But I want to do it."

Max stared at him. He was serious she could see it in his eyes. This was something that he wanted to do.

She sighed, "Fine, go fight."

Alec grinned and tucked her into his arms, "Thank you, Maxie!"

"Just don't expect me to be happy about it!" she stated firmly.

He bit his lip, "There is just one thing."

"How'd I guess?" she said, her voice flat. "What is it?"

"The entry fee is fifteen grand."

"Fifteen grand?" her jaw dropped. "We don't have that kind of money."

He held up a finger, "Not yet. But there is a heist that could pick us up an easy twenty grand."

She folded her arms over her chest. "I'm listening."

Alec smirked.

His plan was a simple one. There was a particular item that was worth a lot of money. Her job was to steal it, sell it and use the money to get Alec into the fight where he could easily triple it.

It was simple, effective and easy. Hell, it was what they had been bred to do and yet… And yet Max had a bad feeling about it.

Not the sinking of the stomach feeling, as if it was about to go wrong, but the aching feeling that made her uneasy with why she was doing it.

It was a feeling that she didn't want to examine too closely.

Max waited outside the factory where the goods were held and she kept her head down, letting her naturally dark hair make her part of the shadows.

She looked through her hooded eyes to the darkened windows where a small light flickered.

She knew that it was a single candle lit at least ten feet away from the window and that it heralded the presence of one guard.

Max shuddered in her darkened spot as a small breeze blew cold air down her neck. She had been waiting for an hour for the single light to flicker and die and the symbolism was not lost on her at all.

Finally the dark overtook the room and Max slid from her hiding place to walk across the street.

The painting that was housed in the factory was a particular print that had been lost just after the Pulse. It was of some early sketches of a character of a children's book that Max remembered reading sometime back in Manticore. She had even named one of the trainers after a character called Filtch.

Now she had to steal the sketch and hand it over to one of Alec's contacts. Who knew what he wanted with the cartoon, or why the only surviving picture was locked in a factory this far out of town. All Alec said was that it used to be a military base and once the pulse destroyed the outpost, it was handed over to an eccentric collector who housed his most private wares here.

_Because that was a sensible option_, she thought sarcastically as she headed around to the back of the building and stared dispassionately at the bins.

There was a security camera just above her turned towards the car park and one pointing her way.

Max snapped the gum that was in her mouth and then pulled it out with a sucking 'pop'. Taking careful aim, Max threw the sticky wad and it sailed towards the camera, landing with a slap against the lens.

Max let loose a smirk and faced the wall of the opposite building. With a quick run she let her cat-like grace help her run half-way up the wall and the she flipped so that she landed on the roof.

Easy.

Keeping low, in case anyone was watching, she slipped across the roof until she got to the sky-light.

Unwrapping the length of rope from around her waist, Max looked around for something to fasten the ends to. Spotting a metal plate on the far corner of the roof, she tied the rope around it and handed out rope until she got to the sky-light. The rough hemp was comforting under her fingertips as she recalled hundreds of hours in drills and training learning how to do this until it was second nature.

She flipped open the sky-light and dropped the rope down, letting her hands slide down the length until she was dangling in mid-air over the large room.

Slithering down, Max let her feet drop to the floor as she crouched, listening in case there was someone else around.

Thankfully the place was as empty as Alec promised and she quickly made her way over to the office she had seen on the blueprints.

The office was small and filled with books and bits of paper. Several safes littered the floor and Max was glad that she had time before anyone else was due in.

She ducked to the floor and laid her ear against a grey safe and twirled the lock, clockwise and counter clockwise, listening for the clink of gears sliding into place and unlocking the combination.

The safe spun open and she peered inside; a few pieces of paper and a box of what looked like diamonds. Max pursed her lips but decided against stealing the ostentatious gems; diamonds were too easily traced these days anyway.

She slammed the door shut and made her way to the next safe, a smaller blue safe. She repeated the procedure of breaking the combination and the door swung open to show several paintings, but not the one that she wanted.

She slammed the door shut in irritation and moved to the next safe which held money, making Max's eyes light up as she shoved bills into her pocket.

She reached for the combination lock on the next safe when a sound from downstairs made her freeze. She clearly heard steps coming up to the room where she was hiding and she looked around for somewhere to hide.

In one corner was a small cupboard, presumably for the water heater, and Max slid inside, closing the door and peering through the slats in the door.

The door to the office opened and a hand slid over the wall to switch on the lights.

Max could see a hand and a sleeve but the wooden slats in the door made it hard for her to see anything else until the person walked further into the room.

As she saw who it was, Max's heart froze and her stomach sank to her shoes as her blood pounded through her body. Oh God, oh god, this isn't happening, Max thought desperately as she cringed in terror. There was no way that her luck was that bad. No way at all.

She squeezed her eyes shut in the vain hopes that it was an apparition or a hallucination but when she dared to open them again she could see clearly.

Standing there in the room with her was Colonel Donald Lydecker.

He had always been the bane of her existence; the monster in her closet that made it impossible for her to sleep. And if she did sleep and nightmares found her, his was the face of the monsters that lay in her head. His was the voice that scratched away at her conscience and her confidence and his was the presence that haunted her.

He was her own personal demon, sitting on her shoulder in lieu of an angel.

And he was here right now standing in front of her trailing his fingers over the paperwork on the desk.

Max's heart hit her ribs with a thud so loud she thought that he should hear it and she raised trembling hands to the slats in the door in front of her, hoping that he couldn't see her.

Colonel Lydecker stood in the office waiting as he surveyed his surroundings.

He had finally managed to elude that little shit White and arranged a meeting that would be advantageous to his cause. He was fed up of having the man on his back all the time and, to be honest, he would be so glad when it was no longer necessary to have the 'supervision' of the obsequious little squirt.

He looked up when he heard footsteps and stepped behind the door and drew his gun in his hand, waiting for the shadow to come in the room.

"Cut the crap, Deck," growled the voice. "If I wanted to be shot, I'd tell the boss what I really thought of his budget plans."

Lydecker smiled and holstered his gun again holding out his hand as the black man came into view. "That's what I like about you, McGinnis, always willing to be the honest man."

McGinnis smiled as he headed into the room, "Nice place you chose for a rendezvous."

"The owner is a friend of mine, he was happy to take the place off the military for a discount, provided we could keep certain elements of the place, of course."

"Of course," McGinnis paused. "So, tell me what this is all about."

Lydecker sat on the edge of the desk and stared up at the broad man. "What, no chit-chat?" he said.

McGinnis laughed, "The only time that you have ever started chit-chat was when you wanted me to start a war with China for your kids. Chit -chat and you do not mix, Deck. What is it that you want this time?"

Lydecker allowed a smirk to cross his lips. "You know me so well, what I want is simple. Call off the suit."

McGinnis rolled his eyes, "Lydecker, it ain't that easy."

"I don't trust this White guy. His credentials are too whitewashed for me. No one is that clean unless they were a boy scout or are in with the big bad brass. Not even a parking violation for our friend White, a little odd for a CIA agent, don't you think?"

McGinnis shrugged, "Maybe he was a saint in a previous life? The point is that this is his show. We've messed up once too often, Deck, this is outta my hands."

"Fine," his voice turned icy. "Then I want my kids."

McGinnis rolled his eyes, "Uh, hate to tell you, Deck, but they escaped and you are supposed to be trying to find them. That is what you are supposed to be doing, unless you had forgotten?"

"Yes, my Special Ops are out and they were the best of the best. It is unlikely that we will retrieve any of them at all, especially since Renfro saw fit to ruin their trust in us by shooting at them. White is especially interested in them for reasons that don't sit well with me and I would rather have people on my team that I can trust."

"What are you saying?"

"Wyoming, Atlanta, maybe even the contingents overseas. I want a team of transgenics on this."

McGinnis' mouth dropped, "No way, Deck, you are more likely to get the Pope with a machete."

"If you knew what I knew, that wouldn't be so far-fetched," Lydecker mused and then glared at his 'friend'. "What better way to catch a transgenic than with another transgenic?"

McGinnis watched him carefully as Lydecker upped the ante. "So far our collection rate has been poor, verging on dismal. Why? Because we are thinking like humans. Transgenics are more animal than full human and the instincts of others of their kind can only help. After all you use dogs to hunt foxes don't you? Same principle."

McGinnis considered this carefully, "If, and I mean if, I can get the senator to consider this idea. How many would you need?"

"About a dozen. I'd like more but that is the bare minimum I would work with."

McGinnis stroked his chin with his thumb, "It'll take some work. But maybe I can put it to the board. I'll be in touch."

"I appreciate that," Lydecker said as McGinnis left the office. He raked a hand through his unkempt hair and smiled to the empty office. "You have no idea how much," he said to himself and followed the dark man out.

Max waited for a full ten minutes, trying to get her body to respond to her frantic demands, before she managed to move out of the closet and into the empty room.

Her heart pounded, her blood roared and her hands would not stop shaking as the conversation ran through her head again and again.

_After all you use dogs to hunt foxes, don't you?_

This was bad.

_After all you use dogs to hunt foxes, don't you?_

This was really, really bad. It was bad enough that Lydecker was close to both her and Alec. But to know that he was close to catching them was nothing to what he was planning.

Those who had been left behind would still be loyal to Manticore and would stop at nothing to get the others back. If her previous unit, back in Wyoming's, reaction to the escapees of '09 was anything to go by, they couldn't expect a warm welcome if they were caught.

And as for her, a twice escapee? She'd be lucky with Psy-Ops and reindoctrination. Disassembly and autopsy was her future.

This was really bad. She had to talk to Alec.

Her breath catching on sobs strangled in her throat, Max managed to open the last few safes and took out what was needed before creeping out the same way she had gone in, her load much, much heavier.

It seemed all downhill from there, although that could have been Max's new fatalistic view of things. The rain that had threatened all day finally graced Seattle with its dreary presence and drizzled down coating everything in a damp layer of grey.

The fence was late and tried to haggle the price with a scared, wet, haggard Max, who was eventually forced to break his nose to get him to give in. Then as she was coming home she saw a squad of militia on patrol and had to hide in an alley to avoid them. The hover drones seemed to be out in force and every shadow was an enemy, every sound was capture and by the time she got back to the apartment, Max was a wreck.

Forget the sheer years of training that she had undergone to make her the ultimate fighting machine; alone in the world without her friends or family with her worst nightmare on her tail and with only Alec, who was seeming further and further away, by her side Max was seeing death in every corner.

She used her shaking hands to fit the key in the lock and walked in to see Alec asleep on the sofa.

Sudden rage overcame her.

"Alec!" she yelled, slamming the door.

He leapt to his feet and regarded her, "What?"

She stood there and just looked at him. He had said he loved her and yet he had sent her out there on her own whilst he lay there sleeping. He said that she was important to him and he had sent her without backup or even a radio to call back if there was a problem.

Suddenly a rush of dislike for him swept through her. She threw his money at him.

"Here, twenty grand, hope it's all you dreamed."

Alec caught the money and stared at his irate girlfriend, "Maxie?"

"Do you know who I ran into whilst I was on your little errand?" she said. "Lydecker!"

"Huh," Alec shrugged.

He **_shrugged_**, like it was no big deal. Max gaped at his nonchalant attitude. "Alec?"

"So, you're here so I guess you are alive and he didn't get you. You're too professional to lead them back here. He'll think that for safety we'll skip on out and he'll leave the area. We're still okay, Max."

She slammed her mouth shut as he rode over all her fears with a cheeky grin, like that would set it all to rights.

He sauntered over, "Did he shake you up, baby?"

Shake her up? She was frozen in her incredulity. Didn't he get it? Lydecker, the epitome of all evil had been within a hands breadth of her and all he could say was that she was shook up?

Not for the first time, Max couldn't help but think of the difference between Alec's upbringing in Seattle and hers in Wyoming. The difference had never seemed so vast and suddenly all Max wanted was Pix. Pix understood, Lydecker was the same to him as he was to her. Pix knew the hell of being held under the water in the Tank to beat his own time by milliseconds. Pix knew what it was like to be taken out in the middle of the night in a thin cotton nightgown and weighted down and thrown into the lake to see if they could survive. Pix knew what it felt to see his unit taken away and dissected by the man with the power of life and death over them. Pix knew what it was to constantly have this man over his shoulder like an all-seeing god.

Lost in her mind, she didn't realise that Alec had put his arms around her and was kissing her softly on the forehead.

"I'm sorry he freaked you out, Maxie," Alec soothed. "But I'll keep you safe."

_How,_ she thought, _by falling asleep on him?_ She pushed him away and spoke, her voice sounding hollow to her ears "What time is your fight?"

"In an hour, you coming?" he said with a bright smile. "It oughta be fun!"

"Sure," Max forced a smile and pulled away from him. "I guess I had better go and get changed, then."

Alec waited for Max to get dressed up to come and see him fight. He was so excited he was practically bouncing; this was his big chance to show them that he was so much more than just some loser who had no feelings and no ambition. This was his chance to prove to everyone that he wasn't some degenerate who was only interested in pulling teeth.

Alec pulled on his jacket and smelled the money that Max had managed to get for him. His thoughts turned to Max as he sniffed the bills. She was acting oddly again and he had thought that the adrenaline rush of the heist would make her mellower.

She had screamed at him when she had come in and then had gone quiet.

It was bad muck for her to run into Lydecker, but what did she expect? The guy's base was in Seattle. Alec knew Max had this strange hang-up over Lydecker but he couldn't see it personally. They were stronger, fitter, faster and smarter than the Colonel, so why was she so afraid of him?

One flick of her wrist would kill the man in his tracks and no more problems. Why the hell was she so scared of a human? It didn't make sense.

Alec leaned against the doorway as he thought about it. Once upon a time Max had told him that her life had been hard on Wyoming and had told him that she was, somewhat, tormented by her peers there.

Without warning a picture he had seen a long time ago flickered into his mind. He had been on a mission with Max that she raced out of to see a man named Bill who had seemed more than just a friend to her. They had gone back to help his daughter who was ill and Bill had shown him a photo of Max as a girl.

Her hair was short and a shy smile was on her face as she stared at the camera but what Alec had remembered was that she was banged up beyond belief; slices on her clothes, bruises on her face, blood tracing down her cheek and a tired look on her face. He had asked Bill if it had been a rough mission and what was it the man had said?

_Alec chuckled "Rough training day?" he gestured to the bruises on her face and neck._

"_No." Bill's voice was quiet and they all looked up as Max dragged herself into the room._

Just no, but there had been so much in that one word. Then Max had come in and he had lost the train of thought in making sure that she was okay.

But now he wondered at that. Why hadn't the trainers done something to make sure that she had been all right? Why hadn't this Lydecker guy taken care of her, or maybe that was it? Maybe she was afraid of him because he didn't put a stop to it. Maybe that was it.

As Max came out of her room dressed in sparkly trousers and a slim fit tank top he opened his mouth to ask her.

"Let's go," she said abruptly as she grabbed her jacket and the moment was lost.

The place that they ended up at was bustling with people of all types. Die hard boxers, fist-fight fanatics, groupies, hard bosses and suits of all nominations.

Max watched as Alec headed round to the edge of the ring, shooting her a smile and a kiss before walking away.

She tried hard not to feel angry at him for his callous remarks back at the apartment but it was hard when he hadn't even tried to see her point of view.

She let her gaze flow around the room taking in the couples who whispered in each others ear and kissed sweetly. She felt sick and her head hurt like the dickens.

She chose a table and sat down, ordering a drink in the hopes that it would quill the uprising in her stomach.

The bell sounded loud in her ears and she looked up to see a short fat man in a striped shirt raise his hands in quest for silence.

"Let's hear it, ladies and gentlemen, for Ricky "The Ripper" Ramberg!" The crowds went crazy for a scrawny looking man with scars all over his face and body, to Max he looked like a Seattle roadmap. He grinned into the crowds with a gappy smile and she shuddered in revulsion.

"And now, ladies and gentlemen, it is my distinct pleasure to introduce our next challenger. New to our arena, coming in at six feet and weighing in at 178 pounds, the marvellous Monty Cora!"

"Yeah," Max said as she took her drink off the waitress, "Because the name isn't enough of a give away."

She rolled her eyes and wondered at the odds of a transgenic getting drunk.

Max downed her drink and kept her eyes on the crowds ignoring the action going on in the ring. One of them needed to make sure that they weren't going to be ambushed by White and Lydecker. One of them needed to have some consideration for their safety and it looked like it was going to be her.

She heard yells and catcalls and glanced disinterestedly at the ring where Alec stood with one foot on his opponent, arms raised in the air.

It seemed he had won.

Max shrugged and let her eyes drift around the room again. There was a woman over there with a bow in her who looked familiar but as long as she wasn't looking at either Max or Alec, she'd let her carry on.

"...The titan of terror, give it up for Jim the Jackal!" The voice of the announcer echoed over the applause and Max watched as the next man walked in to the ring, only to be carried out two minutes later.

"Tommy Thunderfists!" was the next unfortunate character who didn't even last a minute before Alec laid him out.

The crowds were going wild and Max started to take an interest in what he was doing, smiling at his grin and broad muscles. He loved it up there, her really did.

Max started to feel a little bad for losing her temper at him. He didn't really get why she was feeling so bad and that wasn't his fault.

She moved to get closer and smile at him in support.

As she neared the cage she saw a blonde girl by the side of the ring with a low-cut leather bustier and big pouty lips that were pouting at Alec. At _her_ Alec.

She waited for Alec's eyes to turn to her, he always knew when she was there, and to ignore the big breasted floozy.

Alec licked his lips and shot the girl a cocky smile, grinning widely as she flirted back, flashing her baby blues and pulling her elbows in to enhance her cleavage. Alec leered and gave a half smile and Max's heart settled in her stomach, encased in ice.

She turned on her heel and walked out, not knowing or caring when his eyes flicked up to search for her.

* * *

-

ellenemi- I was going to continue, I just wanted to know what I could do to increase interest. I love the guys and have so many ideas for what to happen. The Alec/ Normal thing is going to be HILARIOUS.

Lynsi- I am glad that I can help you through crappy days- I know what you mean. Check out the next chapter for the first sighting!

Gamegirl452- I'm glad I kept going but it is hard to keep up with. The transgenics will slowly be making their way back to each other. See next chapter for that!

Moonangel18- Nah, not mad just relived that you reviewed this one sweetheart. The guys will be back together soon!

Tiggi- Hit the button and all will be forgiven grin More OC to come too!

Geminangel- I know I love Lydek as a bad guy but damn White is cool too so I have no idea who I want to win.

Lotamoxie- I know, I'm that kind of reader too sadly, I always forget to review so I shouldn't live in a glass house… or something.

Annabelle- LOL, ooh web travel, very interesting way of threatening there. I wont abandon the series but finding ways to make it better. I guess that means we bring someone back.

m/a fan- Ye-ees sort of, actually Rafer is… you know what, wait and see but rest assured that they will reconnect. Eventually. Have Faith!

Jade- k- I think there was a world of difference between Settle and Wyoming and their upbringings and that really comes across as they have this freedom that they all wanted. To Alec it is not _that_ different to Seattle but to Max it's precious and she guards it jealously. As for Alec and JP crew… two/three chapters time. Promise.

SGOU- No go ahead, be a pest. I love getting to know my reviewers and I can only do that if they review—just ask Chaosti. Sorry about the distance between Max ands Alec and you _know _it has to get worse before it gets better. Look at their history for goodness sake!

Sigma1- Uh… don't kill him, you might want him later.

BlueJean452- Oh hey don't stop reviewing either, I guess I should be less picky. Thank you for reviewing pet.

Nevanroy- LOL, so you haven't lost interest then? I must admit that I love writing PO more that SF. It must be Dek! Or Aiden… or Flex, maybe Drew.

Erak- Ooh don't stalk, its bad for your feet… or calves or something like that. Prancing is better but you get accused of all sorts of odd things. LOL. 09ers soon as well as the So unit.

Black Rose9- Okay your wish list has been dissected and considered. M/W/L- possible. SO reunion ooh see next chapter!

Moonlite Star- more action here as well as the next few chapters- definitely getting into this now.

Fangedangel- Good point, does delight in detracting reviews. This was longer, although it still feels quick. But the next one is a good 20 pages!

Ganko- Yeah he is but so are they all. Poor Maxie though, they don't have the best example for sorting out misunderstandings do they? The time will come when all will be happy again.

Angel of Darkness231- Aw bless ya. Big hugs for cheering me up sweetheart.

Aur- Me too, but the course of love never did run smooth. Rest assured that Rafer isn't a threat.

Raven- Uh, yes in one way and no in another. Rafer is no threat but Alec has that jealous tendency doesn't he? What if someone was really a threat?

Ayaren- Hey there. I think I'll pick and mix some of my favourite scenes but yeah it will basically follow the s2 timeline with minor deviations. Yah the xs will meet again… soon.

Guest Type person- You are no longer a guest type person you are family! Yes it is true that we will meet up with some X's in the next chapter- ooh ten points for guessing who? I am going to finish Coming to Terms one day—really I am. Honest.

Jynx- Rafer bad? Rafer gone. Bye Rafer.

Feenian- I'm just insecure that way. LOL. I am so glad that people are still loving this story. I have so much on that faster updates are not on the cards but hey at least I don't make you wait years between updates.

Lynn- Hey sweet, thank you for reviewing this. I won't give up and I am glad that you still enjoying it so much.

Kim- They are getting cold to each other but things will sort themselves out as far as our fave couple go. Don't worry. I won't leave you wanting.

Kristibella- Yes Logan will make a cameo and we can kill him mwah ha ha… or not, I haven't decided yet. Hope your exams went well for you and you get great grades.

Stormvind- Hmm, I wonder if I can work that scene in. It'd be fun wouldn't it? Max was never the stay home kinda gal so she would be out doing stuff wouldn't she? Bonus there for her.

Noangel- I am feeling better now thanks and I am glad that you are still loving the story. More soon.

Tina N Blair- It does seem to be going faster even at the same length- no idea why that is but we have additions in it and they should help things along. I like my Max better soon. The Max on the show was far too much of a bitch and out of order for no reason. Too whiny by far. DA is back on terrestrial TV in the UK on Thursdays.

Mely's the name- Feel free to smack both Max and Alec and tell them to shape up. It is annoying how they just won't make up… I have no control whatsoever.

Sweettweetbird06- Hey there, Glad that the stories appeal so much but the updates are as fast as I can manage at this time as I have a new job which requires lots of training. Thank you for reviewing.

Anita- WOW. I think sleep is in order poppet. You'll probably be dreaming of DA but hey, don't we all? Thank you for the compliment and I hope that you continue to think so. Even reading the parallels? Thank you so much. Its great that you like them too. Keep reading and reviewing. hugs

SGOU- Oh worry not, we will have J Alec back soon. It'll be fun. As for your reasoning….wait until next chapter and poof all questions answered. I must admit to missing that side of Alec too, it was sweet as hell and I want to get back to that as soon as possible. W/L are fun to play with I have to say – so sarcastic. Yeah I always say men suck so there ya go- my reasoning why Alec is being a prat. Sorry about your BF. Buy chocolate and read fic. The bit about being affected by the virus agent was something that occurred to me a while ago and explained why White wasn't round to see the test. Alec is being off isn't he and I wish I knew what was up with him too, it will probably come out soon. Glad that you are still having as much fun as ever- me too and maybe magic will happen next chapter for ya. Thank you sweetheart I love you. Keep Fayth and any smut you want to send is fine (I blush too much when I have to write it!)

OriginalProxy- Hey chick, hope you had a classy vacation and came back all refreshed if not bronzed. Didn't quite get the dead last's drummer bit.

Natacup82- Nah, Rafer is off limits, I have better in mind. They are very stubborn but ultimately they do love each other. TC comes up in ¾ chapters.

BlueAngel137- Well good then hugs Alec is being careless and needs a good old fashioned wake up call. Kicking White's ass—yes pleas can I do it?

Elfie- I gave details of Wyoming back in Left Behind but I haven't really said what went on in Seattle except for snippets from Chance etc. I may have to add something in there somewhere. I think that I have far more than enough characters to be getting along with right now. So no Georgia entrees. Yeah there was a commander in Georgia and other transgenics but like I said I have far more than enough right now. I don't know, I kinda like White- he crazy! Otto is cool too isn't he? We should have an international flunky day- Up the minions! Hehehe. Nah Rafer was a flyby I have someone more… dangerous in mind for our Maxie. After all what danger is a human to Alec?

Ronda TIW- Its scary how much it creeps into your everyday vocab isn't it? I must have a quote every other sentence or something, yes smootchies soon promise. Tell me if you spot more Buffy quotes- kinda like a treasure hunt. Do you want a prize?

Mae- Yeah there is a reason for that. It's called laziness. Thanks for reminding me.

Ace Roswell- Cheers pet, thank you for reviewing me!

Caboodle- More soon pet, thanks for reviewing.

NickyLatina- Hey there. Thank you for the constructive criticism. I agree with you in that the cutesy stuff is missing. But no relationship is perfect and after the initial honeymoon period aggravation sets in, especially when they have been removed to a new situation, like Max ad Alec have here. The other transgenics provided perfect foil for them but they are missing that banter. I do have a plan for why Max and Alec are acting the way that they are and you just need to trust in me and have Fayth that I will make everything right.

Electricgurl- You are easily pleased. A good plot and Alec… me too!

Mrs- Ouch, sorry bout school babe, I'd like to say it gets better but that would be lying and Lying is wrong. School sucks and work sucks harder. Ames is cute!


	9. 8 While the cat's away

**PLEASE READ- People have asked me why Alec is such a jerk and being so OOC. Well,I have my reasons and yes it is intentional. PleaseTRUST MEand don't stop reading because of this. I know what I am doing and I won't let it go on long. This chapter is extra long to make up for it. **

**Here is the LOOOONG awaited reunion of two, or more, of our favourite people. Enjoy and don't forget to review. **

**

* * *

Chapter 8- While the cat's away.**

Max sat on the window ledge staring out at the night sky, the apartment deadly silent behind her.

She hugged her knees close to her chest and rested her chin on them. The wind ruffled through her hair and she squeezed her eyes closed as she huddled tighter.

Max had never really been lonely. Back in Wyoming she'd had her Unit and then when they left she had grown accustomed to her own company and then Bill's. She'd made fast friends in Special Ops and Unit 8 and although she had been pushed aside or treated icily on several occasions she had always been fine. Her own company was all that she had ever really needed.

And yet now, when she supposedly had the love of the one who adored her above all else, she had never felt so lonely.

What was wrong with her?

She had tried everything that she knew how. She had tried to support Alec and be there for him. She had encouraged him to be happy and do what it was that he liked. She even went way out of her way to procure the money for him to further his dream, no matter how dangerous it was for either of them.

And then he takes it all and doesn't spare her a glance as he rakes in the admiration. All of the times that he says that he loves her and that he would move heaven and earth for her and yet here she was. Alone.

Alec hadn't come home and hadn't called; he'd just stayed out with his wrestling buddies, almost ignoring Max's existence. It wasn't that she was some harridan who expected him to account for his every movement. But the fact that he hadn't even bothered to call so that she didn't worry about him hurt her. He _knew_ that she was scared of what this Agent White and Lydecker were up to and he hadn't spared her a thought.

That, more than anything Bulli had ever done, more than any barb that Special Ops or Renfro had ever thrown at her, made her feel worthless and insecure.

Max, the most independent, secure and confident woman that she had ever known was feeling bad because her boyfriend would rather spend all day around sweaty, bloodied men, that be around her.

She was pathetic. But no matter how many times she told herself that it shouldn't and didn't matter, it still hurt. Her heart hurt and she hated herself for it.

A tear escaped its carefully constructed confines and slipped down her cheek.

Drew had been right, this love thing sucks.

Despite a night with next to no sleep Max was up, ready and on time for work; something that she had been taught to do from infancy.

Original Cindy smiled at her as she wheeled her bike into the crowded building.

"Hey, boo, what up?"

Max smiled at the flamboyant woman in her lime green shirt and Capri pants. She had been a god-send to Max these past months, listening to her complain about Alec and offering, more than once, to help her bat for the other team. It had taken Max several days to work out exactly what she meant when she said that and was suitably glad that she had turned down the offer.

Sketchy was rummaging through his back pack and emerged with a half-eaten sandwich, slightly squashed and dubious in both age and origin.

Max wrinkled her nose, "Sketch, you aren't going to seriously eat that, are you?"

The goofy man smiled at her, "It's breakfast, Max!"

"It's fossilised," she eyed the sandwich dubiously, "It looks dangerous."

"Hmm," Sketchy considered it and then pulled out a scraggly lettuce leaf and a piece of meat and threw them away, happily crunching on the leftovers. Max's stomach turned.

"Boy, you a twisted mister!" O.C said as she pulled out an apple, her own breakfast and crunched down.

Max smiled down at her two friends. Really they had been wonderful for her these past few weeks and didn't hesitate to tell her when she was being an idiot. Which was quite often, if she was honest. Her feelings about Alec and all they had been through were definitely a factor in her crappy moods these days and she was surprised that her friends hadn't just slapped her upsides the head.

She felt charitably towards the lanky moron and the leggy street smart woman, thankful that she had found such great friends even if they didn't even begin to match her other family.

"Hey guys, lunch is on me," she said abruptly. "Compensation for me being touchy."

"Touchy?" Sketchy rubbed his neck and Max, once again, felt a pang of regret for slamming him up against the lockers when she found him and his friend peering into the girl's locker room. As her friend, Sketchy had a warning. The other guy was still off sick.

"Now, boo, ya know ya don't need ta do that!" O.C. said and then added, "But I ain't turnin' down a free meal."

Max laughed aloud at that. "Well, I insist, it's my treat."

"Excellent!" Sketchy said. "I'm trying to save."

O.C. regarded him, "You need a new bong, boo?"

"No," he ducked his head sheepishly and pretended interest in his shoes.

Sensing that he had a secret that he didn't want to tell them Max and O.C. looked at each other and then pounced on him.

Max held him down whilst O.C. tickled him.

His arms and legs flailed but Max was more than a match for him as she pinned him to the wooden bench.

"Spill!" O.C. demanded.

"No-o-o!" Sketchy gasped even as she tickled mercilessly. "All right, all right!"

Max let him sit up and he massaged his arm, "Damn, Max, you are wicked strong."

She shrugged, "I work out."

"Spill, doofus or I'll find myself a new pin cushion!" O.C waved a fist in his face and Sketchy cowered back.

Max smirked thinking that he wouldn't last a second back at Manticore.

"All right, it may seem like I'm content being this good-for-nothing slacker—"

"Amen!" O.C. mused but Max slapped her arm as Sketchy looked hurt.

"Go ahead," she said softly.

"But...but the truth is, I don't plan on being a bike messenger the rest of my life."

"It's good to have goals," Max said.

"Yeah. Um...I haven't told anybody this, but last week I dropped them off a résumé."

Max and O.C. stared at him.

"A résumé?" Max said. "Where?"

He pulled a tatty paper from behind his back.

"New World Weekly," Max read. "What's that?"

"Dumb tabloid, writes all that dumb-ass stuff," O.C. said. "Snake babies, super-cults a zillion years old and trash like that."

"It's not all trash!" Sketchy defended, "Some of it is true."

"Nuh, uh!"

"Uh huh!"

"Guys!" Max said with a smile. "It's great, Sketchy; I hope you get the job. You'll be great at it."

"If I do get it," he said. "If _New World Weekly _does hire me, I'm gonna get to the bottom of this whole mutant thing. You see, it says here, uh, some of them even have paranormal psychic abilities."

"Mutant thing?" Max said faintly whilst O.C. groaned.

Sketchy laughed, "Where you been, Max? There was a facility that burned down and they said that lab creatures escaped but that they look like us."

"Crap," O.C. dismissed succinctly.

Sketchy ignored her. "They all have powers, like they can mess with your mind and you don't even know what's happening."

"Sounds farfetched," Max's heart thumped wildly in her chest.

"I wouldn't be so sure about that."

This wasn't good. Someone had to have leaked the information about transgenics out and for the first time since her escape, Max wondered at the reasons why Renfro had tried to fry them all.

Why had the evil bitch suddenly turned on them and flicked the switch?

Had someone found out about the experiments and threatened exposure? That could have been enough for a scorched earth policy and the reason for the fires.

_"I made you better soldiers!" Renfro insisted, "You are alive because of me."_

_"We were in hell because of you!" Max screamed, "If we were so god-damned important why the hell are you torching the place?"_

_"It's the data that's important!" Renfro yelled, "You are just meat to m,e 452," she pulled a computer disk out of her pocket, "This is what is important, with this I can start over anywhere."_

Max shuddered at the memory of the psychotic woman with the gun trained on her. Had they started again somewhere else?

Neither Max nor Alec had taken the disk from the shrieking Renfro; a lapse that she now regretted.

Exactly what had been on that disk? Their details?

Had someone found it in the wreckage? Was Manticore a wreckage now or had they started to rebuild?

Her mind twisted with all these new questions and she bit hard on her lip to stop from asking Sketchy for answers or begging him not to expose her. She knew that humans were afraid of what they didn't understand and transgenics were a huge threat to both their physical and emotional state.

If humans found out about transgenics… She shivered.

Max tried again to dissuade him, her mind awhirl with what this could mean, "Sketchy, imagine what would be involved in telepathy or tele-coercion. Manipulating brain wave patterns, interfering with short-term memory formation...just seems a little hard to believe."

He bit his lip, "Yeah...I guess it does seem a little ridiculous when you put it like that. But the other stuff, super strength, speed and smarts?"

"Possible," Max hedged. "Good luck with that, though. I do hope you get it."

He looked pleased even as her heart sank further, "Thanks, Max."

She nodded and turned to O.C. Looks like we are on runs now.

"Missy Miss!"

Max halted before Normal could yell at her again, "Yeah?"

"Package for Sector nine."

Max sagged, "But that is all the way across town!"

Normal looked at her without a trace of sympathy, "Gee, its not like you are not getting paid for it."

Max grabbed the package and ran through seven ways to kill Normal as she breathed out.

He was enough to try her patience in a big way. She smiled sweetly and walked out hearing him yell after her, "Don't forget a signature!"

"Yes, sir!" she muttered. "Slave driver, it's like being back at Manticore."

Thankfully the morning went pretty quickly and Max was relieved to find that the ride over to sector nine was peaceful and relaxing. The sector cops weren't being asses and when she stopped off at the market she found a pound of coffee going cheap.

So far it had been a great day and it was with a spring in her step and a smile on her face that she arrived back to Jam Pony.

"Here ya go, Normal," she trilled. "One signature all done in nice pretty colours."

He shot her a suspicious look which Max ignored and tuned to her friends, her lips twitching as she imagined the confused look on his face.

She hurried over to O.C. and Sketchy to make lunch plans.

Normal filed Missy Miss's form and slammed the cabinet shut. He had the odd sense that she was mocking him when she smiled in that way. It was such a shame that such a good and respectful worker came wrapped in an arrogant and sarcastic package… even if that package was the prettiest he had seen.

He was glad that he had given her the job, though. She worked hard and got her packages delivered in half the time without half the cheek that he had to bear from the others. No, on the whole she was a success.

He wandered back out into the main desk and shuffled through his packages.

"Excuse me."

"Just a minute," he said copying down an address to be delivered to. He finished and looked up into the face of a young man with dark blond hair and a severe look in his eyes.

He was wearing dark suit trousers, white shirt and a black leather jacket, an air of poise surrounding him despite his somewhat casual dress. Normal could tell that those were expensively tailored clothes and the man felt like someone that Normal should be nice to and so he smiled.

"What can I do for you, sir?"

The man didn't smile, "My company has a complaint with yours."

"Your company?"

"I'm the owner of an acquisitions firm and we expect high service from our company. Likewise we expect the same from those that we chose to employ. I paid for a package to be delivered and that package has not been delivered. How do you think that reflects on my business?"

Normal swallowed, "Uh, not good, sir?"

"Not good," the man nodded. "I chose Jam Pony because you have a good reputation. That reputation is now called into dispute and I have no qualms about telling all my associates that this is no longer a reputable company. Understand?"

Normal almost trembled, "Yes, sir."

"Now I want that package delivered immediately and I will wait here until I have proof in my hand that it has or I will act... Do you understand me?"

"Yes, sir. Uh…what was the package?"

The man's hawk eyes narrowed, "What concern is that of yours?"

"None, I mean… none. But it would help me to locate it. I mean… size and addressee?"

"Hmm," the man pursed his lip. "Long package, rolled up portrait. Antique addressed to a Mr. Duvalier, 435 Bledsoe."

Normal nodded writing it down, "I'll just go and… go and… uh—" he pointed over his shoulder to the back.

The man nodded and gave a nasty grin, "Hey, I've got all day."

Max smiled down at Sketchy who was getting in a sword fight with Skye with one of his long packages.

"Doofus!" O.C. said as she filed her nails. "I'll just be a minute, Max; I can't believe that guy tried to steal my bike!"

"You got him good," Max said absently as something pricked at her brain.

"Yeah, but I broke a nail giving him a cranium crack and that kinda thing can ruin your whole day, ya know, Max. Max?" But she had lost her friends attention as Max stared into space. "Yo, Max?"

"Hmm?" Max had the oddest feeling inside. It was as if her whole body was suddenly pulled to attention and she felt her whole body itch, as if all she needed was scratch and all the bad feelings would leave her in one fell swoop.

Max stretched her back feeling every inch the feline she held inside and wondered at the sensation. If she really was a cat right now, all of her heckles would be up and screaming. What was wrong with her?

And then she heard it.

"Hmm, long package, rolled up portrait."

That voice was familiar.

Very familiar.

"Antique addressed to a Mr. Duvalier, 435 Bledsoe."

So familiar, in fact…Her breath caught as she slowly turned around to face the entrance of Jam Pony.

There he was; grinning at a terrified Normal and enjoying the scent of fear that he was giving off.

Max could hear O.C. speaking to her and Sketchy and Skye fighting but all she could see was him, her entire world focussed down on that one figure in the leather jacket.

She stepped forwards and her voice croaked as she said the precious word.

"Dek?"

Dek rested against the front desk and grinned nastily at the stuttering man as he gestured over his shoulder at the back.

He was so bored and couldn't believe that he had to leave Aiden to come and mess with this jerk, who couldn't even do the menial job here without screwing up. Like sorting packages was a hard career.

He rolled his eyes at the look of fear on the man's face and drawled, "Hey, I've got all day."

This was strictly true, although Aiden would probably wonder where he had gotten to after a while. He thought back to the papers that he had left spread all over the kitchen table and hoped that Aiden would commit them to memory so that they could do the heist tomorrow.

He reached behind his head and scratched at the base of his neck, feeling a strange prickling inside.

Huh, this place probably had fleas. He grimaced at the idea and was about to tell the man that he had changed his mind and would come back when he heard someone call.

"Dek?"

He looked up and his gaze came into sharp focus at the familiar face.

"Max?"

Her long dark hair spilled over one shoulder, her eyes bright and shining with welcome and relief. As he looked over at his friend and CO, he saw her casual jeans and tank top, all in black, and he knew that he had never seen a more beautiful sight.

"Dek," she breathed and in two strides he had her captured in his arms holding her as if he would never let go.

"Max? Max, Maxie, Max," he hissed in her ear as he pulled her even closer. "God, Max!"

Max breathed deeply of the scent of one of her best friends. Dek had always smelled of cedar wood and a fresh woodsy smell that reminded her of forests and comfort. He reminded her of walks in the woods surrounding Manticore and flying through the air by the obstacle course with him by her side laughing at the others who couldn't go as fast.

He reminded her of sitting up in the gym all night talking and playing thumb wars and bouncing all over the gym, their shark DNA not allowing them to sleep.

He reminded her of home.

Right now this was all that she needed; her friend holding her so tightly that she could break… or break down and know that he had her and would hold her until she could make it on her own.

Max closed her eyes and let herself feel all the things that had been missing for too long. Comfort, peace, protection and, above all, love.

She realised that he was whispering in her ear and it was several seconds before she could make out what it was.

"My angel, my sweet angel, Maxie, you okay?"

Her shoulders shuddered at the concern she heard in his voice and she tightened her grip before pulling away, wiping at the tears that had been threatening.

She fought for a smile as she pulled back, still staying in the comforting circle of his arms.

"Hey, you," she managed.

He laughed and the sound rose clear through her making her feel so much better, "Back atcha, babe."

All the things that she could say— that she had missed him, that she needed him right now, that things were rough and that she wanted him to be near— she didn't have to say at all. One look in her eyes and he knew what it was that she wanted to say to him and he nodded kissing her knuckles as she stood back regaining space.

"How about we grab some lunch, sweets?"

Max nodded, not trusting her voice right now and then let go of his hands.

"Normal, I'm uh…" she suddenly realised that everyone had been watching her little display and she felt a flush of embarrassment at the display. To them it may have only seemed like a hug but to her, it had been so much more and even that amount of vulnerability was a weakness that she shouldn't have exposed.

Normal smiled insincerely, "Uh, its fine Miss- Max, you take as long a lunch break as you need with Mr… Mr… uh, your friend."

Max held back a smirk at how afraid Normal was of Dek and straightened, "Sure."

Dek grabbed her hand again, not wanting to be separated from her and started tugging her to the exit, at the last moment he spun back to a relieved Normal. "I will be back for that package."

"Right," Normal said, scared again and watched as they disappeared from view.

"Huh," Sketchy huffed. "I bet she's forgotten about lunch."

White slammed his hands against the wall and roared in anger as he faced his trembling associates. "What do you mean she's gone?"

Mendez blinked and clenched his fists tightly, "The van wasn't found and hasn't been traced but the bodies of the three guards were discovered by long distance truckers. The girl is missing."

White growled again as Mendez made a hasty escape. He couldn't believe it. He had that bitch and Cyril had his plans and it was all coming together. Now they tell him that she had escaped and taken the van?

Transgenic Bitch!

"Problem?"

Yes, there was, and he had just walked through the door with that cocky grin on his aged face.

"Your wunderkind have once again foiled our plans, the girl that we wished to test the antigen on has killed three of our men and done a runner."

"Hmm," Lydecker pursed his lips. "What was her designation?"

White rolled his eyes and flicked his gaze over the paperwork, "X5-291, I think."

"291," Lydecker nodded. "You were lucky to get her, she was Special Ops, no wonder she escaped. If you had come to me I might have—"

"Might have what?" White snapped. "Given her coffee and made her welcome?"

Lydecker watched him carefully for a few seconds. "You may think that these kids are abominations of nature but it is your job to capture them. Whatever you may feel about them needs to be set aside. Rest assured that I will not allow you to hurt them."

White's handsome face turned ugly as he sneered, "How touching."

He was furious at the presumption of this man to tell him what to do. Lydecker was an aging alcoholic and he had no idea what White was capable of. He may not trust him and may not even realise their link but he was no match for White in any stakes.

While Lydecker and his pretty band of white coats had been fooling around with genetics and DNA the real work had been going on right under their nose and they never knew it. Oh, Sandeman may have let slip the odd hint but even that old fool valued his own skin too highly to tell all.

White took a deep breath and reigned in his infamous temper.

"We now have no test subject for Cyril's project. That is my problem."

"Hmm," Lydecker trailed his fingers over the desk top. "How is that other plan coming along? M—452's capture?"

White straightened his jacket and plastered his usual sneer on his face. He was cool and calm and collected. "The trouble is that your composite showed a dark haired female with big lips. There are enough dark haired girls in Seattle to make this… idea ridiculous. If we put these posters up, every man and his dog will be handing in his daughter for a sniff of a reward. Plus it will put your little pets on alert and they will scuttle to ground like the rats that they are."

White gave him one last glare and spun on his heel, walking away as fast as he could.

Lydecker bit his lip, his mind worried beyond what was normal.

Despite the man's volatile temper he was surprisingly efficient, sneaky and confident. If Lydecker didn't know better he would swear that White was a transgenic. He had all the arrogance of one who knew he was superior and all the reckless energy of one who be up all night and not depend on coffee to keep them functioning.

Lydecker wiped his eyes, feeling every bit as tired as he was old. His life hinged and was based on being paranoid, assuming everyone was out to get him, to do him in and to kill him. It had kept him alive until now but it was starting to take its toll.

He knew that White was up to something and knew that he had to keep an eye on him which was another reason why he had asked McGinnis about the extra hands. Hands, hell, he wanted the extra eyes, paranoia, security and strength on his side that the transgenics would provide.

With one last sigh, he walked after Agent White.

He was getting too old for this.

Dek sat on the opposite side of the booth to Max and held her hands tightly in his own grip.

They had made it to the café and sat down without saying a word to each other, just drinking in the fact that they were here together finally.

Max didn't know whether it was just because it was Dek or because it was another Special Ops, but she felt like she had just woken up from a deep sleep to blinding sunlight.

"So, Max, what brings you to this run down café?" Dek smirked.

"That'd be you, dumbass!" Max hit back with a grin. "Geez, no wonder you never had a date, I mean your choice of place is a little cheap, Dek."

He laughed as he looked around the run down café with its Formica chairs and tables and polyester-wearing waitresses.

"Well, the girls love me for my charm and not for my wallet."

"Probably not a good thing since you have about as much charm as you do fashion sense," she pointed at his crisp white shirt and Dek straightened his collar.

"Hey, I'll have you know that this shirt cost a hundred dollars!"

Max's lips twitched, "Did you pay for it?"

"No," Dek scoffed and they exchanged a glance before bursting out laughing.

The laughter faded to good humour as the waitress brought coffee and sandwiches over.

"So, how are you doing?" he asked seriously.

Max sighed and picked up a sugar packet to stir into her coffee, "Honestly, Dek? Not so good. I mean it was all great at first… kinda. We got out."

"You and Alec?" he guessed.

"Yeah." She shrugged. "We got out and headed deep into Seattle. We needed a base to work from so Alec got a job fighting ringside in slum bars for petty cash whilst I placed bets."

"Sweet set up," Dek acknowledged as he drank his drink.

Max nodded. "For a while…"

Dek waited while she ordered her thoughts.

"But it seems to have taken over everything he does." She looked up glad to have someone to talk this through with, finally. "He stays out all night and fights more than I ever thought he would. I don't wanna be a nag but it's like… once he's fighting all of his common sense goes out of the window. He doesn't care about exposure or…" she sighed in frustration. "Dammit, it's almost like he _wants_ to get caught!"

Dek frowned, "That doesn't sound like Alec."

Max shrugged again, "I don't know what to do and when I mention it I come off as the bad guy. I can't win."

There was silence for a moment and then Max asked the question that she had wanted to since she had seen him, "Do you know where any of the others are?"

"Only Aiden."

"Aiden?" Max smiled at the thought of the cheeky man, a smile which faded quickly. "No Drew?"

Dek swallowed and shook his head. "We heard that the C block was on fire so we raced to get there, but it was too late, structural damage was complete and C block was in pieces, I never saw her."

Max closed her eyes and rubbed her forehead. "Damn."

"Yeah," Dek chuckled morosely. "I haven't given up hope."

"Me either," Max said. "I took the biker job so I could scout the surroundings and keep a look out. I haven't seen anyone either."

"Got me now." Dek leaned back, his hair falling into his eyes. "Me and Aiden."

"That'll do for now, I guess," she joked half-heartedly, her fingers absently shredding her sugar packet.

He knew how she felt. They had worked so long in Manticore to stay together and yet they now found themselves more apart than ever. They had no idea what had happened to the rest of their party and it hurt not to know where their family were now. It was nothing like they had imagined it would be.

Dek smiled softly. "So much for my happy ending."

It was so poignant and succinct that Max felt herself tear up as she nodded.

"Yeah."

Dek leaned over the table and brought his hand up to wipe away the sadness that dripped down her face. Her cheek was as soft as he remembered and the gentle look in her eyes for him was a balm to his soul.

"Aiden'll be pleased to see you, wanna go see?"

"Sure," she dropped a few bills on the table. "After all someone's gotta take care of you guys. Manticore knows how you've been living without me."

Dek laughed, "Oh, Aiden's totally transformed, he cleans, cooks, forces me to train… it's like having a maid, a mom and Manticore all in one."

With a slight detour to scare Max's boss once again and discover the whereabouts of the elusive package they headed back to Dek's place eager to see Aiden and share the good news.

Dek shushed her and walked into the run down warehouse first, a smirk plastered over his face.

"Honey, I'm home!"

There was a muffled shout from somewhere within and Dek grinned. He made his voice gruff and added, "Woman, there'd better be dinner on the table 'coz I brought a friend home."

Max stifled her own giggle at Aiden's response to that and Dek shushed her again.

"Is that any way to treat a friend of mine you ungrateful cur? I bring home the bacon and you can't even keep this place clean!"

Aiden burst around the corner, his hands dusted with flour and an apron around his middle. His mouth was open to deliver a scathing retort to Dek.

"Listen to me, you—MAX!"

Max raced forward and launched herself into Aiden's outstretched arms, holding him tight as he spun her around. He laughed in glee at her giggles in his ear.

"Hey, stranger!" Max said as she pulled away and her lips twitched at his attire. "Nice apron. You know when Dek said he had domesticated you I thought he was joking."

"Nice!" he bit out playfully. "I don't see you for months and the first thing out of your mouth is abuse."

"Hey," Max spread her arms, "It's me!"

"True, very true," Aiden nodded and then pulled her close with one arm and planted a kiss on her forehead. "Great to see ya, toots."

"You too, handsome," Max grinned.

"Hey!" Dek planted his hands on his hips and glared at them, "How come you call him handsome? I didn't get that."

Max and Aiden looked at each other and deliberately turned their backs on Dek.

"Wanna show me what you're cooking?" Max said to Aiden and he dragged her into the kitchen with Dek pouting at the rear.

One of the things that had always relaxed White had been physical exertion. So after a full day of being around Colonel Lydecker he decided that he needed a break and hid himself deep within the army camp to get a little exercise done.

He went through a rotation of star jumps, push ups, sit ups and had moved onto the skipping rope in the hopes of calming his temper and forcing a mindset of peace.

As he took another deep breath he could feel some of the tension drain out of him, only to return as he heard the footsteps of one of the lackeys.

"Excuse me, sir?"

He rolled his eyes and spoke as if he were talking to a child, "What's the rule on fitness time, Otto?"

The man parroted his rules back, "No interruptions, sir."

"Then what are you doing here?" White demanded as he continued to jump, hoping that the man would just go away.

Otto Gottlieb took a deep breath, "Sir, we've got a lead on a possible code red."

White let the rope stop and he stared incredulously up at Otto.

"What?"

"Code Red, sir."

White grabbed his jacket and pulled his shirt away from the pipes where it had been resting.

A 'Code Red' was serious, it meant not only a sighting but potentially hazardous exposure. They couldn't afford that, at least not yet, and White knew he had to sort this out now. He asked Otto to brief him, forgiving the man for interrupting his precious 'alone' time.

"Some fisherman came to the dock this morning, started showing off their catch."

White almost stopped dead. "And how is that a code red?"

Otto bit back a smirk, "Apparently they netted a girl...with gills."

This time White did stop, "Gills?" Otto nodded. "Huh."

Otto carried on and White quickly took the lead again.

"They think they've got themselves a mermaid."

White actually found that amusing. What was easier to swallow, that you had caught a mutant freak from a Frankenstein lab or that you had netted an entirely fictional creature from the black lagoon?

"Idiots," he sneered. "What did they do with it?"

"That's what we're trying to find out." Otto said and White quickly pulled out his cellphone.

"All right. Let me know when they confirm code red. Could be we're dealing with a bunch of drunks telling fish stories."

Otto nodded, "Yes, Sir."

White rolled his eyes again as Otto left, "Gills!"

Alec chugged back his beer and grinned at the guys that surrounded him.

They had been not very friendly at first, since he kept beating them in the ring, but once he had let them get in a few choice hits and told them who to bet on they had warmed up to him in no time.

Now they invited him to this place called the Blowfish tavern on something called a two-fer.

Nick slapped Alec on the back, almost causing him to spit up his beer, "Okay, boy, initiation. Two-fer is short for two for one as in two lap dances for the price of one."

"Lap dances?" Alec swallowed. "No offence but you guys just aren't my type!"

"Not us, wussy!" Colin smirked. "The ladies."

Alec had noticed the half dressed women that wandered about moving to the music, but for the first time he noticed that they were also writhing all over the men in the club.

"Huh," he said in a strained voice.

"So we get Sassy and Veronica for our boy!" Colin said pointing to two women who stood by. Both had long blonde hair and were dressed in very little.

"Or perhaps you'd prefer something a little more exotic?" Hank threw in. "I heard they have a mermaid here."

Alec laughed, "A what now?"

"Mermaid," Hank craned his neck. "Check it out over there."

Alec turned in his chair to see a large tank set in the wall with a long, dark haired woman dancing in the water.

"I gotta see this!" Colin hissed and left the table with Devlin to check it out.

Alec was preoccupied with the blonde Veronica who slunk over.

"Hey," she purred. "Want a dance?"

Alec stared up her fish-net clad legs, past her red Basque to her blonde hair and pouty lips and had a sudden vision of Max standing behind her with her hands on her hips and her eyebrow raised at him. He gave a derisive laugh, "Uh, better not sweetie. I have a girlfriend and she has violent tendencies."

"If you change your mind," she bit her lip suggestively and Alec wiped the sweat off his upper lip.

Nick was in hysterics by his side, "Wow that girly of yours sure has you by the balls!"

Alec laughed again, "Yeah, she does and if you knew how fast she could kill… or incapacitate a man you'd be a bit wary too."

He remembered one day in training when he had been trying to make something up to Max and she had pulled back her foot and… he folded his legs and winced.

Colin and Devlin came back with huge grins on their faces.

"Smoking!" Devlin enthused loudly. "Girl is so hot she's tropical!"

Colin nodded, "Talk about sweet. I couldn't see wires, tubes, nothing. Whoever she is she has killer breath control and you know how handy that could come in." he waggled his eyebrows and they all scoffed.

"Plus she has a killer tattoo," Devlin added. "Now I don't normally go for chicks with tats but this one, itty bitty little one on the back of her neck. It's a barcode, it's so darn cute."

Alec choked on his beer and sat up quickly. "Did you say barcode?"

Devlin nodded. "Cute little lines."

Alec stood quickly. "Hey I wanna see if I can see tubes or something."

"I'm telling you, man, there's nothing!"

Alec stalked over to the large tank set in one wall and looked up into the pretty face of the 'mermaid'. She was pretty enough to be a transgenic, that was for sure, even if she did look miserable to be there.

He tapped on the glass and she turned sadly to look at him. He smiled reassuringly and opened his fist in front of his chest.

He quickly made the signs for his designation and casually turned his head to look back at his buddies, scratching the back of his neck as if perplexed, which had the dual effect of lifting his hair so that she could see his own barcode. He turned back to see her eyes light up and a smile grace her features as she flipped over to show him her own barcode.

X5m- 340; she was a water based transgenic used in aquatic espionage.

He asked in sign language if she was a captive and she nodded sadly, her long dark hair floating in a halo around her head.

Alec rubbed his hands together and thought quickly.

Okay, so she wasn't one of his unit, but he couldn't just stand by and let her be the main entertainment of a bunch of guys like those out there who jeered and smacked at the glass like the drunken idiots they were.

What he had to do was to find some way to get her out of there and back into the water.

He grabbed his cell phone and dialled home quickly hoping that Max would be able to think of a way. The phone rang and rang.

Nothing.

Alec hung up and tried Max's cell only to find that she wasn't in the area.

With a frown he slipped the phone back into his pocket and nibbled at his thumb. What to do?

As he glanced around the club looking for inspiration his gaze caught on a male sitting in one corner with dark hair and a sinister look. His thick overcoat and general demeanour of disinterest made him stand out. If he was undercover he wasn't doing a very good job.

As Alec watched, the man dismissed a pretty blonde— the same one Alec had, she was having a bad night— and returned his attention to the exits and entrances of the club. There was something in the way that his eyes flickered that made Alec pause in his considerations of calling him the enemy.

He watched as the man twisted lightly to look at the woman in the tank, his eyes full of sorrow and Alec slowly smiled. He recognised that look, had seen it in the mirror often enough when he was falling in love with Max and she wouldn't give him the time of day.

He strolled away from the tank and up to the balcony to where the man sat.

"Hey," he said as he slipped into the chair opposite. "Have we met?"

The man eyed him quickly and then dismissed him from his gaze.

"No, I'm sure we have. In fact, I think that we go way back. Maybe to… uh, 946?"

The effect that those numbers had on the man was instantaneous as his head snapped back to look at Alec with his eyes wide open.

Alec grinned as the man started to make quick hand gestures and he was able to follow fairly steadily.

"Yeah," he said. "X5-494. 2IC of S.O. You?" he followed the hands. "Huh, underwater sabotage. Cool. Listen is that your mate?"

He nodded quickly and Alec bit his lip. "Okay, listen… Nemo," he chose the first name that came into his head. "We need to get her out of here, so here's what we do. I need for you to create a distraction whilst I lift her out. We'll meet out back in the alley. I suppose you know the quickest way to water?"

Nemo nodded and made complicated gestures to which Alec just grinned. "More information that I needed to know, thanks. Give me five minutes and then distract away, we need as many people out of here as possible."

Nemo nodded again and stood up, moving swiftly towards the back of the room.

Alec sighed, wondering why he was involving himself in this mess. All he wanted was a quiet evening with some friends, but no, he had to do the whole Superman bit.

Max would be so proud.

He walked back over to his drinking friends and explained that he had had a call from Max who was stranded in a dodgy part of Seattle and needed him to come pick her up. The men jeered and wolf-whistled as he pulled on his leather jacket and made his way to the back of the club. The Blowfish tavern wasn't very big and the wall that the girl was stuck in was the joining wall of two sections of the club. Alec smiled graciously at several ladies and waited, hidden from sight behind the wall.

He didn't have to wait long until a gigantic explosion ripped through the room, rocking the very ground he was standing on.

He raised an impressed eyebrow. It sounded like Nemo had lit off explosives and the resulting screams and chaos were all the cover that Alec needed to spring into action.

Meanwhile back at the military camp surrounding Seattle, Otto Gottlieb made his way back to his irate boss's side.

"Sir, code red's been confirmed. She's got a Manticore barcode."

White grinned maliciously. "And where did our merry fishermen take their prize?"

Otto winced imperceptibly. "Sold her to a guy who runs a bar in sector nine."

The grin fell from White's face and that look of barely restrained violence came back. "You've gotta be kidding me."

"They've got her on display. Drawing quite a crowd, too," Otto added figuring he might as well get all of the bad news out of the way at once.

White sighed in exasperation. "That's great. I don't want to attract any more attention to the situation. This has gotta be clean, surgical."

Glad that he had finally done something right, Otto just smiled. "We've already got someone in place."

White grabbed his coat and headed for the truck headed to sector 9.

Before he got both feet into the cab there was an explosion of static from Otto's headset.

"What now?" growled White.

Otto held his finger to his ear, listening hard, "Our guy says that there is an explosion in the club, someone has set off the fire alarms and there is chaos."

"A rescue operation?" White speculated as he slammed the door shut and revved the engine.

"My man says that a single man is helping the girl out of the water."

"Well, tell him to stop him! At any cost."

As Alec lifted the girl, who he had dubbed Marina, out of the water he suddenly felt like someone was watching him and turned in time to see a tall dark haired man swinging a table at him.

He ducked and rolled with Marina in his arms, the table just missing his head by inches.

"Hey, she's spoken for!" Alec said as he let the girl go and sprung into fighting position.

The man didn't stop to trade witty banter, which was actually against the villains' code, and brought the table back in a side sweep to catch Alec off guard. This time Alec slid backwards on the carpeted floor and let his leg swing around to knock into the man's legs. He went down heavily as his knees gave way and the table that he had swung so merrily trapped him beneath it.

Alec rolled forwards coming to rest in front of Marina, who he had so ungraciously dropped.

She winced as he pressed his hand against her bruised side and he smiled apologetically.

"Sorry, sweetheart. I guess you water babies are more fragile than us landlubbers, huh?"

Marina fluttered her hands and Alec laughed. "Okay, sweetheart, lets get you back to your man, okay?"

She nodded enthusiastically and Alec picked her off the floor with his strong arms, not relishing the clammy wet feel of her dripping all over his leather but far too much a gentleman to complain about it—just yet anyway.

He raced out back with Marina in his arms and handed her over to Nemo. Their union was expressed with several kisses, so exuberant that even Alec was embarrassed and had to break them apart but a part of him understood and even felt a little sad.

Max was his mate and yet it seemed like she was always on her own. Would he even know if she had been kidnapped, the way that they were at the moment?

He loved her so desperately but it seemed like breaking out of their home had made her more distant and far more worried than ever before. She seemed to be on the edge all the time and no matter how hard he tried to get her to believe that everything was all right, she insisted on being nervous. He even went as far as to portray a laid-back exterior to get her to relax but it seemed to just annoy her.

Of course, that had all changed once she got that biker job. Now she neglected her own safety by actively cycling around searching for her unit. How was he supposed to take care of his CO when she insisted on going off on her own all of the time?

Not to mention that Post-Pulse Seattle wasn't the safest of places at the best of times and she refused to carry a gun.

He shuddered and smiled at Nemo and his mate as they kissed deeper.

When he got home to his own mate, he decided, he'd have plenty to say. He could imagine it all; Max would be waiting at home, cooking him something to eat and he would walk in full of tales of his night and his daring exploits. Then he'd calmly talk her through why he was so worried about her. Max would agree to his few requests regarding her safety and his peace of mind and then hug him and one thing would lead to another and dinner would be forgotten. He would be a hero in her eyes and she would be his angel again.

Alec conveniently forgot that Max wasn't actually speaking to him at the moment.

"Hey, kids, it may be called the Blowfish tavern but get a room, okay?"

They looked sheepishly at him and turned back towards the alley that they had come from originally. Alec heard a screech of tires and wondered if the guy in the room, whom he had knocked unconscious and left, had brought buddies to the party.

He motioned for Nemo and Marina to get out of there, ignoring their wave as they headed for the sewer access. He crouched behind a dumpster that faced the street, waiting for the men to get out of the truck.

He spotted two military men in the back of the truck, clad with enough arsenal to take out Seattle's gangland. There was a short dark haired man in the front, wearing a suit and looking out of place amongst the hardware.

As more tires screeched to a halt on the concrete Alec decided it was time to move out and head home.

He used the hard gritty floor as a springboard and leaped onto the roof of the opposite building, scuttling low and keeping to the shadows as he carefully made his way out of their range.

But his dreams of a happy homecoming fell flat when he got back to his apartment to find it cold and empty.

* * *

I have been told off for taking so damn long to update and you have my apologies! But seriously, I was trying to come up with a way to make Alec less of a jerk than before- I hope I succeeded. As to the author notes- Thank you for reviewing and i wish i had the tiem to thank individuals but with my new job... excuses excuses.

Huge thanks to-

_Jensens Wifeys Chadz lover_

_Spanishwon2123_

_Caboodle_

_Blackrose9_

_Sigma1 (btw thanks for the graphic word picture!)_

_Jade-k_

_Starr light1_

_Erak_

_Kiwifruit03 (hi there. Pickle oddly seems to work. Huh. Go figure!)_

_Kristibella_

_Moonangel18_

_Fangedangel_

_Lotamoxie_

_Crystal moon dragon_

_Bluejean452_

_Gabbie760_

_Geminangel_

_Raven_

_Ronda TIW_

_Shyleigh3 (trust me!)_

_Angel of darkness231_

_Lightstm00_

_SGOU (its great that you are still so hooked and enjoying it, even if I do tend to go OTT on the angst, had a rough month—can't you just tell—but keep up the great reviews- they rock)_

_Noangel_

_Ganko_

_JG_

_BlueAngel137_

_Kristibella_

_Sweettweety06_

_Electricgurl_

_Some one who cares_

_Hphotshot (originally they weren't but because you asked I've put them in PO, see the power you have!)_

_Guest type person_

_Suenooneus (hello, welcome here!)_

_Natacup82_

_Pearly wings aka Kim_

_Lady irony (hi there!)_

_Insanity_

_Ladybug_

_Mely's the name_

_SGOU (hysterical- thank you so much!)_

_Moonlight19- playing catch up._

_I love Alec_

_Lelou (hey chick, there is a reason for me treating Alec this way. Seriously I haven't gone mad for no reason. I truly appreciate your comments and did my best to explain at least somewhat why he was off in the last few chapters. I hope this was better- let me know.)_

_L80bug- yup see, I did! Your review actually kicked my ass into gear. Mucho gracias_

_SGOU- who said you had to be normal? And why wasn't I told?_


	10. 9 Wake up older

**A/N-- Okay, only one month instead of two-- see i am getting better...kinda. Mini warnings here for possible character abuse... and author abuse. PLEASE trust me. i know what i am doing.**

All flames will be dealt with by a secret government agency. All reviews will be kissed by Alec...does anyone read these A/N? i wonder?

**This is for SGOU who is reading this standing on her head, crossing her eyes whilst clapping her hands and wiggling her feet. Some people do anything for attention.**

* * *

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**Chapter 9. Wake up older.**

Max sat on the counter watching Aiden as he threw more ingredients into the pot.

"Mmm," she sniffed. "Smells divine. I don't know how long it's been since I had a decent meal."

"What, Alec doesn't feed you?" Aiden smirked but there was silence behind him. He turned looking into Max's sad face. "Max?"

"Alec isn't around often enough to feed me," Max said looking anywhere but at him. "He's having fun beating up other men for money."

"Asshole," Dek muttered as he set the table for three.

"He's not," Max defended weakly. "He's just enjoying not having to deal with… everything for once in his life. He's happily vacationing in the land of not-dealing." She shook her head. "Sorry, too much daytime TV."

"Dealing or not," Dek said, "he shouldn't be neglecting you, Maxie."

"Maybe it's me," she said quietly causing Dek and Aiden to look at each other in alarm. "I mean I have been kinda tetchy recently. It's just that every little thing he does seems to drive me crazy. Sometimes he doesn't even have to talk and I want to hit him. That's not me, ya know?"

Aiden scratched the back of his head as he stared at her. "Max?"

"Yeah?"

"Did Tara ever tell about your shark DNA?"

Max grabbed a slice of mushroom from the tray and munched on it as she thought back. "Don't think so, why?"

Dek and Aiden shared another look and Aiden pointed at her with his knife. "It could explain why you have been so off recently, as you call it."

Max rolled her eyes, "So, on top of heat, I have to worry about biting people?"

"Not that kinda DNA," Dek grinned, "But ya know, if ya wanna…?"

Aiden slapped him upsides the head. "Lay off. Max, shark DNA, according to Tara's report sharks, especially the Great White and Grey Reef variety have complex social behavioural patterns, including multifaceted relationships with others and communication of body language and body patterns rather than sounds."

"So, instead of using speech or noises sharks communicate by touch and sign language?"

Aiden smiled. "You got it faster than Captain Einstein here."

"In my defence," Dek said, "we were fifty feet in the air at the time."

Max chuckled. "Ok, so what? I need to touch people? I do that."

"Kinda, but my guess is that although you can use sounds to communicate with, what you've been missing is others with shark DNA to share those social cues. Like uh…say you've been hanging around with kids all the time, your brain craves intellectual stimulation so it makes you get grouchy unless you can get it. Same with the shark thing; it's fine to be around others but you need that special shark feeling to make you complete."

"But I never had that in Wyoming," Max argued. "I barely touched the unit I was stationed with."

Aiden looked from her to Dek. "He asked the same question and you have no idea how scary it is that the two of you are that similar."

Max beamed at Dek and their eyes met in a gaze of understanding.

"So, brainiac?"

"Ooh no, let me!" Dek begged and sat up straighter with his feet on the floor. He pulled his hair down straight and spiked the front fringe with an exaggerated air. Then he said in a snooty voice, "I'm no Zoologist, though I am brilliant. But my very best guess, which is obviously right as it _is_ me, is that you, Max, created some sort of internal social defence against the feeling when you were in Wyoming rendering that part of your DNA defunct until it was resurfaced by the arrival of…me!"

Max was in hysterics by the time he had finished and Aiden threw his tea towel at Dek. "I do not sound like that!"

"Oh, go play with your apron," Dek teased and Aiden joined them in laughter.

He hadn't said anything, but he had been so worried about Dek in the past few months and had doubled his efforts to find one of their unit. Dek had been increasingly irritable and withdrawn and Aiden had found it hard to live with the twitchy man.

It was a relief and a pleasure to see his friend act more like himself and, needless to say, he was ecstatic about seeing Max again.

"Is that all the thanks I get for cooking and cleaning up after your ass all these months? I feel so damn used!" Aiden pretended hurt and Dek's face fell.

"Aiden," he shifted uncomfortably. "I never—"

"Gotcha!"

"Ass!"

Max was laughing so hard that she almost fell off her chair. "God, I can't remember when I last laughed this hard. Probably back at Manticore."

Dek nodded. "Yeah, me and Aiden haven't been dull but it hasn't exactly been a barrel of laughs either. I mean the time we—"

"Time!" Max jumped up. "Shit, I forgot the time. Alec'll be back by now, wait until he hears I've met you guys again, he'll be so pleased."

"Great, I missed the old loser," Dek sneered playfully. "Hey, tell him I'll join his cage ring and beat his ass!"

Max laughed as she grabbed her jacket and headed for the door before pausing and racing back to hug Aiden tightly. "I missed you guys."

"Night, Max," Aiden said softly. "Come back tomorrow, okay?"

"Sure." Max made her way over and planted a kiss on Dek's cheek. "Later, handsome."

Dek pulled her into his lap and hugged her quickly before pushing her away, "Night, sweetheart. Sweet dreams."

The door shut firmly behind her and Dek looked up into Aiden's grinning face.

"What?"

"Sweet dreams," he fluttered his eyes. "Sucker."

Dek laughed at him. "She is a sight for sore eyes."

"Yeah." Aiden went to check on dinner. "Shame Alec isn't treating her better."

He didn't see as Dek's eyes narrowed and he stared out of the window. "Yeah."

Max shut the door to the apartment, hoping that she didn't wake Alec up as she crept in.

She saw him sitting on the couch flicking through the TV channels.

Her face lit up, "Hey, Alec you'll never guess wh—"

"Where the hell have you been?" he interrupted.

Max faltered in the doorway, "What?"

Alec stood up, his face red. He had been waiting here for her for over two hours, alone in the dark.

After his brush with the mermaid and her mate, he realised that he hadn't been as supportive or protective of Max as he could have been and so he cancelled his fight tonight and waited here to talk with her.

He hated that they were fighting all of the time and wanted to do something to make up for being as ass over this whole fighting thing.

He waited and waited and she hadn't shown and with each passing minute he had grown more and more worried. He knew that she was perfectly capable of taking care of herself but she hadn't even left a note or anything.

He called her cell phone again and again and each time that it was out of function was one more worry. Max hadn't turned off her phone since he had gotten it for her, so why wasn't she answering?

His mind began to play tricks on him as he paced the floor. What if she had been shot at by gang members and rushed to a human hospital? What if she had been captured by a gang and been raped and beaten? What if she had been hit by a car?

His irrational fears made his ire increase with each new scenario until his paces wore holes in the carpet.

The sheer relief he felt when she walked in was outweighed by the anger at his irrationality.

He knew she could take care of herself—that didn't make it any easier.

He clenched his teeth, trying to keep in his temper. "I have been sitting here worried sick, where have you been?"

"Out," she said in a disbelief that sounded more like exasperation to an exhausted Alec.

"You could have called; you could have text me, or paged me. Dammit, Max!" he exploded, the relief in his heart evident to him alone.

Max heaved another breath of disbelief, "Alec, I'm a fully trained Commanding Officer of Special Operations; a branch of highly trained killers, assassins and military generals combining lethal force and intelligence with speed and agility. I have more animals DNA in me than an entire zoo and am perfectly… **_perfectly_** capable of taking care of myself. What the hell are you shouting about?"

_What was he shouting about?_ Alec almost gaped; didn't he have the right to be worried for her? Was she the only one in this relationship who was allowed to be concerned for her partner—or did she think that he didn't care?

Alec tightened his fists at the perceived insult and glared at her. "This is an entirely different jungle, sweetheart."

"Sweetheart?"

Alec continued as if he hadn't heard her, trying to get her to see his worries. "Men out there aren't like the transgenics, Max. They hunt in gangs and have guns. No matter how quick you are, a bullet is faster."

"So you're telling me that I have to… what, be more careful? Lay low?"

"Yeah."

Max gaped. "Screw you, Alec. If you refuse to do the low key thing then why the hell should I?"

He was laying low. Didn't she know that he had been approached about taking his fights national? He'd refused _for her_. He was being careful, why was she making such a big deal out of a few cage fights. Low publicised cage fights at that.

"You need to stay safe, Max. Stay down."

She folded her arms across her chest, "What? Yesterday you said that it was ridiculous for us to have to lie low and now you want me shut up someplace, why?"

Alec couldn't answer, because he didn't want her to know what was going through his head. She was always so damn independent and she made it clear on more than one occasion that he was only there on sufferance.

What if she truly didn't need him? What if she was looking for some way to get rid of him?

He had always been the one who had made the effort, who went after her, whereas it seemed to him that she could care less if he stayed or left.

After racing around with the mermaid and her mate and seeing the lengths he would go through to protect her and the way that she had clung to him; something had clicked in Alec. He realised that he wasn't protecting his mate as he could, hell, he barely saw Max these days and it had been so long since she had given him that look and it was killing him.

But even if she said that she could take care of herself, it was clear that she was overconfident about her own skills.

Max was out there all day on the streets and he had heard about all of the things that went on in Seattle; muggings, drive-by shootings and the like. While he was confident that Max could kick ass on even a gang of thugs, a gang of thugs with a knife and a gun were a different story.

No matter how well Manticore had designed them, they weren't bullet proof.

He wanted all the best things for her, for his love. He wanted to lavish her in diamonds and silks; he wanted the most luxurious apartment for her, he wanted for her never to have to lift another finger in her life. He wanted to wash away all of the pain that she had gone through in Wyoming and Seattle and he wanted…no,_ needed_, to protect her from further hurt. He wanted so much for her and he wanted her so much.

He just had no idea that his wants were stifling her.

Max was suffocating and confused and most of all she was tired. One second Alec was holding her like she was made of china and she grated against being thought of as fragile and the next second it was as if he didn't care about her at all and she hated feeling like a second thought in his life. His hot and cold treatment was driving her crazy and she didn't know how much more she could take before she cracked.

"Alec?"

His gaze swept to her, his frustration showing in his eyes at her inability to see that he cared too much for her to allow her to be hurt. "God, Max, can't you just trust me?"

"I do," she said hurt. "It's you that doesn't seem to trust me. I can handle myself, Alec."

He scraped his hand through his hair again. "Maybe."

"No!" Max snapped, finally having enough of this conversation. "No 'maybe' about it. You haven't always been in my life. I managed ten years of hell before I met you, Alec. There is nothing… _nothing_ that humans can do that my unit didn't at least try. Shooting? Drowning? Attempted rape? I survived that. On. My. Own. I like having you in my life, Alec. But I don't need you."

Silence reigned as the hurtful words echoed in the room. They both stood staring at each other in a painful hush.

"Ouch," Alec whispered sombrely as her words bit at his heart.

He almost doubled over with the pain of that sentence, at once all of his fears coming true and being vocalised by Max. The world spun until he thought he'd be sick.

Max looked at her hands, she hadn't meant to say that to Alec, because it wasn't true. She loved him, she needed him. But his refusal to see her, really see her rankled more than she could say.

Max rubbed her forehead and sat down on the arm of the sofa. "Damn, Alec, I didn't mean to hurt you."

"Then you should check your aim. Lethal as always," he said carefully not letting her see his feelings.

"Sorry."

Despite her words Alec knew that _he_ needed her.

"I don't want to fight anymore," he confessed and held out his hand. "We are both mad right now and mad doesn't equal good for us. Can we just… just drop the argument and go to bed?"

Max looked away and he dropped the hand, stung. His heart hurting more with each rejection

"Alec… I've never been great with this emotions stuff. Give me an army and I can run it with precision but give me feelings and I flounder." She searched for the right words. "I do love you, I do care about you. But right now… I don't really like you much."

His jaw tightened.

There was nothing to say.

Max bit her lip in an effort to stop her tears. "Back at Manticore, we were not just friends or co-workers, we were best friends and we worked together on everything. We made a great team."

"We did," he said stiffly.

"Right now, we don't feel like such a team. You go away and do your own thing; you don't listen to me or my advice. You don't trust either my judgement or my abilities. My worries may seem trivial to you now, but you always used to listen. I feel like I don't even know you anymore," her voice cracked, "and that hurts. Too much. I can't… I won't…" she took a deep breath and stood up. "I need to go."

"Go!" Alec looked panicked. "What?"

"Just for a walk, or something," Max said softly, turning her head away so that he couldn't see the tear tracks that were slowly spilling down her face.

All Alec could see was her stiff back and resolute figure as she stormed for the front door. He heard the gruffness of her voice and grew annoyed at her. Dammit, why couldn't she see that all he wanted to do was protect her?

She was vulnerable out there, more so that she had ever been, and, as her mate, her appointed one, it was his _job_ to protect her. His very being, his instincts told him to protect her.

Why couldn't she see that? Why did she have to get mad and walk away?

Suddenly, he was more angry than hurt; a welcome change.

Walk away, that was all the '09ers did when things got messy. They escaped. They didn't stay to sort things out, they just left.

"_You call that charm?" she scoffed "You've obviously been in Psy-Ops one time too many."_

_494 found his temper rising. He had been in Psy Ops too often._

"_Well if I have, it's thanks to you and your little '09 buddies. They put your twins through hell because of you traitors."_

"_Suck it up, Soldier," she yelled, "You haven't even begun to know hell, and for the last time we were NOT TRAITORS!"_

_They were standing nose to nose screaming at each other when the gentle clearing of a voice broke the spell._

_She tossed her head and stormed past him, slamming an elbow into his side before striding to her quarters._

_Alec watched as she bit her lip and felt that flare of annoyance that had sparked when he rolled over and saw her creeping through the trees away from their encampment._

_He had gotten to his feet just as quickly and followed her, like her - waiting until they were far enough away that their voices wouldn't wake the others before confronting her. _

"_Going somewhere, sweetheart?" he drawled._

_---_

_"What did I DO?" he yelled_

_"You pulled a gun on me!" she screamed back and silence fell all around as heavy as thunder. "Dammit Alec, I trusted you, with everything, and you pulled a gun on me!"_

_She suddenly felt a wave of relief pass through her as it finally came out._

_He gaped and understanding passed._

_"Maxie."_

_Overcome by a wave of anger at herself and him she did the only thing she could think of, she pulled back her leg and kicked._

_Four hundred males hissed and bent in sympathy as Alec dropped to his knees cradling his groin, tears in his eyes._

_Max stared as Alec struggled for breath, her own chest heaving._

_Abruptly she spun on her heel and walked away, _

Yeah, that's what Max did when things got tough, when things came to a head; she walked away.

Would she leave for good this time? She was his everything and if she left he would be the one who would crawl back to her, letting her use him as she would. Wouldn't he?

He was a soldier, not a sap. If she truly didn't need him then maybe it would be prudent to cut his losses and walk away with some dignity intact.

He loved her, he needed her, but he was sick of her mood swings and her constant tantrums. He had put up with a lot from Max and this time he couldn't watch her walk away. He wouldn't be the one waiting around for her this time. He wouldn't play that sap for her.

Her voice whispered hoarsely, "I'll be back."

And Alec made up his mind.

"I won't be here."

Max turned and looked at him as he stared up from the couch resolutely.

There was silence between them as they just looked at each other, remembering everything that they had been through together. There was a world between them and neither knew how to step over the gap that was growing wider and wider each day.

Max's bottom lip trembled as she let one tear fall down her cheek. "I will be."

Alec's heart broke as the door quietly shut behind her and the apartment was shrouded in silence.

>>>>>

Dek was awakened from his not-too-deep sleep by a shuffling around near his bedroom window. He slowly sat up and let the cool cotton sheets slide down his naked torso to pool at his waist as he listened hard.

There it was again. There was definitely something outside his room and it was getting closer.

Bringing his lithe body up smoothly into a crouch, he knelt on the edge of the bed and sniffed gently.

He couldn't smell any scent of animal, nor of machinery—which meant that whatever was prowling was of the two-legged variety.

He rolled off the bed and onto the floor, bringing himself up in one flowing gesture to stand by the French windows and he flicked the corner of the old curtain with one finger, quickly scanning the outside.

His heart was unnaturally loud to his sensitive ears as he caught sight of a shadow hiding behind a tree not ten feet away from the glass.

A shadow that wasn't moving at all.

Dek slid back the curtain and pushed at the handle that opened the door to the outside. With a finely oiled hinge, it slid effortlessly and, more importantly, noiselessly open.

He stepped out into the small garden and crept quietly along the grass, letting the dirt and mud seep between his toes and the earthy smell of the dew-wet ground fill his nose.

The breeze made goose bumps spring up all over his skin and he denied himself the urge to shudder as he edged closer to the figure.

About five steps away the shadow turned and their scent finally reached him and he froze.

"Max!"

Max moved slightly and the moonlight shone through the branches and illuminated her face. Her wet face, damp with tears and encased in pain.

She just nodded and rested her head back against rough bark, staring at the stars.

"Hey, honey, what is it?" he asked gently but she shook her head, looking like she was just keeping herself from breaking up.

He held out one arm and stroked her hair with his hand, strong and sure; letting her know that, if she wanted, she had his strength to lean on.

She closed her eyes and leaned into his hand slightly.

"Dek," she breathed. "I don't like this. This world hurts too much." She looked at him. "I want to go home."

His heart went out to her and he took her soft hands in his and pulled her towards the house and into his bedroom, letting her come on her own free will rather than be coerced.

Once they were inside the cool room he shut and fastened the windows behind them and turned to face Max in the darkness of his bedroom, the curtains settling down from the night breeze.

"Do you wanna talk?"

She shook her head and he bit his lip. This uncommunicative Max was downright scary.

"Wanna sleep?"

She nodded and he moved to the bed, turning down the covers.

"Dek," she whispered.

"Yeah?"

"Can you… you know, put some clothes on first?"

Dek chuckled as he recalled that he had been sleeping in the nude when he had heard her in the garden. "Sure thing, sweet thing."

She gave him a ghost of a smile as he pulled on some black silk boxers and settled into bed. He patted the side next to him and Max crawled into the warm bed next to him and snuggled up against his body.

She laid her head on his shoulder and he wrapped his arm around her and kissed the top of her head.

They lay there, just not talking for a while, listening to each other's heartbeat and the sounds of the night.

"He doesn't trust me anymore."

Dek was startled by the sound of her voice. He had just been drifting off to sleep when she had deigned to speak.

"Alec?" he asked.

"Hmm, he thinks that I've turned into some fragile flower that needs his constant protection. He actually yelled at me for not being there when he got back—like some… some… housewife."

Dek stroked one hand up and down Max's arm as he thought about that. "Maybe he was just worried that he didn't know where you were?"

"And how, exactly, was I supposed to tell him? Huh? He was out with his wrestling buddies all night."

"Bitter?"

"Frustrated," she corrected with an elegant prod to his ribs. "On one hand, he acts like his world is perfect and nothing can go wrong, and then he's telling me that I'm to check in with him because it's not safe out there without him. It's fine for him and not for me and that. Makes. Me. Crazy."

"Craz_ier_," he corrected. "But I understand him to a point. Drew was the same. She was this big tough female, which was exactly what I wanted… what I want. But sometimes guys feel the need to play the big bad protector. It's nice to feel needed. And with you and Drew, well you don't need us."

Max winced as she remembered the words that she had thrown at Alec.

"See," Dek spoke again, shifting around to find his words, "in relationships, it's like each party has something to bring to it. One has the beauty, one has the brains. One hogs the limelight and the other does the backstage stuff. But with transgenics we have it all. One has both beauty and brains, is comfortable in the spotlight and can work backstage. We have our individual personalities but on the whole we are very insular."

"Big words," Max teased, but her heart wasn't in it as she understood his words and agreed.

"That's why some of us work so well together—like Feen and Techie. She is bold and brassy but he has the quiet strength. Tara has the brains and Carrot has the leadership qualities. Chance is quiet and insecure and Pix has all the balls and fun one person can have." Max grinned against his chest. "But you… and Drew. You're both smart, sexy, strong, secure, confident and yet you have this vulnerability that you want to conquer. It's a heady mix and draws guys like me and Alec. But, for us, we know that you have everything and rely on the fact that you may need us too. With that gone…" he trailed off.

Max closed her eyes tightly and huddled more into his arms. "I'm sorry."

"I need her too," he confessed huskily. "I act all right but damn, Max, it's killing me."

Max knew that if it wasn't for the night and the darkness, he wouldn't have voiced that thought, that weakness and she was glad that he had.

"I miss her too," she offered. "I've needed a best friend these few weeks. Drew was the greatest."

"Yeah." There really wasn't much to say after that.

With shared worries and feelings the two of them drifted off into unnatural sleep.

>>>>

Fingers tapped on the table, again and again. And again. In a rhythm that was not only irregular but annoying in the extreme.

White stared at the age-stained hands of Colonel Lydecker and imagined pulling those fingernails out one by one and sacrificing the older man to some pagan gods.

Any gods, it really didn't matter which. The more brutal the better.

Tap. Tap tap. Tap tap tap. Tap.

"So," Lydecker drawled. "Our test subject got away?"

White said nothing.

"And she stole the van."

Nothing.

"And killed your three men who were supposedly the best?" Lydecker smirked. "At what?"

White clenched his fists and forced himself to calm down at the mocking in Lydecker's tone.

"My men are the best in whatever they do," he growled.

"Oh, that I can't deny." Lydecker said sarcastically. "The point is that your little experiment has gone awry now that you have no subject to test… and, of course, the equipment and virus was _in_ the van, guarded by your oh-so-able men."

"At least we caught one, no matter how brief and, gee, it didn't take us ten years." It was White's turn to look smug and Lydecker's turn to look annoyed at the criticism.

"But you lost her again… and three of your men in the melee."

"Melee?" White smirked. "Word-a-day calendar?"

"Some of us have more to distinguish ourselves than our looks."

"Obviously," White's gaze swept dismissively over Lydecker and he smirked at Lydecker's ragged face and tufts of hair.

"As pleasant as this bitch contest is," Lydecker snapped, "perhaps we should go over what it is that we need to do now."

"Now that your transgenic bitch has the virus," White snarled, slouching back in his chair and kicking his feet out, looking very much like a petulant child.

"Does your contact have further vials of the virus?"

"Cecil?" White shrugged. "No doubt he could whip something up; it might take a few weeks."

"No good," Lydecker shook his head. "The Committee wants this dealt with fast. They are getting impatient to see some results. We'll have to come up with something different." He paused. "Any luck with the composite?"

White scoffed. "Thin female with long dark hair and bloater-fish lips? We'd have every cell in the city full, it would be impossible for us to search them all. Wasted man-hours and we'd be chasing our tails for nothing. We don't even know if your tramp is in Seattle."

Lydecker grit his teeth. "That 'tramp' happens to be one of the best soldiers that Manticore ever trained."

White waved his hand dismissively. "So what? What do we do now? Walking around hoping one falls into our hands isn't the way I usually run things."

Lydecker glared again at the overly presumptuous man. "Well, I haven't been impressed so far. But I'm open to suggestion."

White frowned in thought as he ran through various scenarios in his mind. What he really wanted was all of these scums off his planet. But what was the best way to achieve that means? Well, he needed this 452 girl to give him the codeword that would bring all of the transgenics to him. But they didn't know where she was, she could be in the Bermuda triangle sipping Mai Tai's right now for all they knew.

The composite had been a good idea until he had seen three women who could match that description on the way to work and realised that every single stinking money-grabbing glory hound would hand in his own mother for the sniff of a reward.

So that wasn't a great plan.

"What would your transgenics do if exposure was risked?"

Lydecker stared at him with mounting horror in his stomach. "What?"

"If the world in general knew about transgenics, what would they do? Would they panic? Maybe make mistakes?"

Lydecker swallowed hard. That was a bad idea. No, that was possibly the worst idea in the history of the world. "They would become dangerous," he intoned. "They would find whoever had leaked the information about them and they would cheerfully rip them to shreds. That," he said carefully as if speaking to a small child, "would be bad."

White smirked, "Oh really?"

"Yes," Lydecker knew that he had to nip this in the bud right now. "If they had even the hint of exposure, they would guard themselves with their lives and if people turned on them they would attack."

And thus prove that they were monsters, causing the public to go against them and maybe start hunting them. White allowed himself a little smile. "Hmm."

Lydecker shook his head. "The committee would never go for it in any case. They want to limit exposure, remember?"

White said nothing, his mind working silently on another plan even as he half listened to Lydecker's words.

"Fine," he said. "So… no exposure."

Lydecker didn't trust Ames White as far as he could throw him, and there was something about that maniacal gleam in his eye that reminded him of Renfro and her own quest for power.

He remembered the icy blonde-bitch as one of his own nemeses and one who, in turn, infuriated, challenged and unnerved him. If there was one thing that Lydecker hated, it was being unnerved.

"What happened to the leads that your men found on the Mermaid?" Lydecker wanted to derail whatever train of thought that Ames White was heading along right now and so he came out with a left field question in the hopes that the man would have something more substantial and less hazardous to plot.

"The Blowfish tavern," White sneered at the name, "has had several smash and grabs in recent history and installed hidden cameras to beef up security. They were more than happy for RCF investigations to check out their hardware for them." he scoffed at the naivety of humans in general.

"Although the explosion instigated by one of the transgenics blew out the main circuitry of the system, we have been able to salvage more than enough to put together some sort of picture. Otto is working on it now; it should be ready in a few hours. So far they have assured us that we are dealing with two transgenics, who are definitely in the area… or were, last night at any rate."

"Good," Lydecker said, genuinely happy that they were getting closer to at least some of those who had escaped.

"What about the fingerprints on the glass and footprints on the roof?"

Lydecker folded his arms, "Technicians are running it through the database as we speak. They have a file on all of the transgenics that were manufactured. We should be able to tell who we are dealing with."

Lydecker smiled at his own genius in ensuring that they held DNA data on each of the transgenics, so as to be better able to identify them. It had been one of his saving graces after '09 and the one that ensured that he kept his own job instead of that bitch Renfro taking over.

What a disaster that would have been!

White smirked, "Are these the same technicians who were unable to determine the cause of the Seattle base fire?"

That had been a sore point with Lydecker for many months now. Despite their best efforts they were no closer to discovering who it was that set fire to the Seattle base a few months ago.

Oh, they knew that the charges were set in the DNA room and filtered out to the other sections. But they had no idea who it was that set the auto-destruct system off inside Manticore. Renfro had been under orders from the committee to restore all systems—not to scorch the earth and yet… something didn't sit quite right here.

They had tapped into the incoming cell calls made moments before the destruction of Manticore and one Renfro received, right before the explosion, was from an unspecified number that they couldn't trace.

The one technician that had escaped the blaze and had actually come forwards had been in the room when Renfro had given the order and he maintained that it had been an order from higher up.

But everyone on the board of directors had denied that such a call had taken place. If not the committee, then who?

He sat back as he thought back to the interview.

The man had been the very epitome of the classic geek. His mousy hair stuck up in all directions over his rat-like face; his glasses making his beady eyes look larger. He seemed to be a cross between a student and a certified hacker and his hands shook with a s much nerves as caffeine overdose.

Lydecker enjoyed the power he had over the man as he trembled.

"So, Mr. Richardson…Mind if I call you Daniel?"

"Uh…my name's Ike…but go ahead," he caved under the evil glare that Lydecker shot him.

Lydecker made one circuit around him, keeping silent so as to unnerve the man even more.

What Ike didn't know was that Lydecker was even more nervous than he was. The whole of his career and maybe even his life hinged on this moment and making sure that the fire was not his fault. He needed a scapegoat and fast and if Ike here didn't supply him with one then he was going to find himself as the whipping boy for the entire committee.

"So you want to tell me _again_, exactly what happened?"

Ike cleared his throat. "Can I have some water first?"

"No."

"I've been here for twelve hours, I'm kinda thirsty," he whined.

Lydecker stopped pacing and looked down at him. "Son, you are the only witness to one of the biggest disasters in human history. What you saw or didn't see," he nodded knowingly, "could change the way most humans think. Animal- human hybrids walking among the common people? Dating the common people? You are, what we call, a loose link here. Other than your information you have no use and are, in fact, a danger to us. Because you know, Ike, you know all about the operation."

Ike was starting to look green with nausea and Lydecker smiled.

"You came back, which helps… a little. Other than that you have no use and we should kill you."

"But I didn't do—"

"I know," Lydecker interjected smoothly. "The point is that if you are cooperative I will personally make sure that you live. Quietly and far away but you'll live. Now, tell me what happened."

Ike nodded fast. "Ok, so we were in the command room, monitoring the screens and there was call from the upper brass about that Eyes Only character and we were told to haul Renfro back to talk. We comm.-ed her and she watched the broadcast and then took a call on her cell."

"What was said?"

"She was speaking French."

Lydecker sighed, "So what was her mood like?"

"Pissed…I think. Anyway I didn't say that I didn't understand her, I just said she was talking French."

"So what was she saying?"

"I'm bad at foreign languages but I was on the net at the time and so I scoped up Babel fish. I was curious what she was saying."

Lydecker blinked. "What the hell is Babel fish?"

"It's uh… an archaic pre-pulse program that translates any sentence. So as she spoke, I tapped. She said: 'Oui Ces't Renfro, Oui monsieur, que Je comprends. Je regarderai dans lui monsieur. J'obtiendrai les données prêtes juste au cas où. Oui Monsieur Je suis bien informé de celui. Deniability plausible. Serrure vers le bas. D'accord."

It sounded like someone was chewing her ass." Ike smirked and then remembered who he was talking to and cowered. "Uh anyway the translation was 'Yes sir, I understand. I will look into it. I will get the data ready just in case. Yes Sir, I am well informed of that. Plausible deniability. Lock down. Okay.'"

"Good memory," Lydecker said caustically.

Ike nodded, "Yes sir. Anyway she then told us that we had to find the location of Eyes Only or the committee was going for scorched earth. She asked for backup on every piece of data we had and looked kinda narked."

"Then what?"

"We assembled the data and everything was all-systems-go. Until night came and we were assessing for the Sex Ed program and—"

"The what?" Lydecker interrupted harshly.

"Uh, the X's were given Sex Ed training to help them seduce targets in the field. Renfro's idea."

"Bitch!" Lydecker exploded.

"Yes, sir," Ike continued. "Anyway Eyes Only made another broadcast revealing our position and then the lights went out so we were ordered to lock down the barracks and go on full alert. She grabbed the disk with all of the details on which was when we discovered that the '09ers were tapping into our security system and faking our footage. Uh… then she got mad and ordered us to cauterise the site and…and…and burn them all," he swallowed, "that's what she said 'burn them all'."

Lydecker nodded. "I see. Anything else?"

"No, Sir," Ike shook. "Some one opened the locks and let everyone out. She ordered us to kill them before they could reach the fence and then just turned and walked out. We hit the fire buttons, activated the self-destruct and ran. All I could hear as I left were the firing guns as they opened fire on the transgenics."

"Such a shame," Lydecker had said as he reached into his jacket and soundlessly pulled out his Glock hand-gun. "Guns can be so loud."

There had been one sharp explosion and then the sound of a man slumping as Lydecker had closed the door quietly behind him.

"Such a shame."

White waved his hand in front of Lydecker. "Anyone home?"

Lydecker frowned at the annoying young man. "Can we continue this some other time; I have other things to do."

"Fine." White waved dismissively as Lydecker stood and grabbed his coat before heading for the door.

"I understand that, at your age, you need an afternoon nap."

Lydecker's hand tightened briefly on the door before he swept out.

>>>>>

To say that Aiden was surprised to see Max at breakfast was an understatement.

"Uh… when did you get here?" he asked as he walked into the kitchen.

"Hmm, about halfway through Simpson's?" Dek said ignoring them as he watched his morning cartoons.

Max leaned over with her coffee and slapped the back of his head.

"Dumbass," she retorted as she sat back. "I had an… interesting night and needed someplace to crash. Objections?"

Aiden shook his head and yawned. "Of course not, sweetheart. I was just surprised. I am glad that you are okay now, though."

"Sure, I have my guys here with me now, don't I?"

Aiden dropped into the chair next to her and laid his sleepy head on her shoulder.

"Mmm."

Max laughed as she stared down at the tousled hair in front of her. "Someone obviously isn't a morning person," she teased.

"Says the one who isn't human until she's had her coffee," Dek threw over his shoulder.

"Says someone who isn't human anyway," Aiden defended and got up.

Max gave him a quick shoulder squeeze for his efforts, as he passed, and grabbed her coffee mug again, settling back into her chair with a grin. "So, what have you guys got planned for today?"

Aiden shrugged as he pushed his toast into the toaster and grabbed some eggs and a frying pan.

"No idea," he said. "Breakfast, Maxie?"

Max shook her head. "Manticore's conditioned me to only eat slop for breakfast… or fruit."

"Yeah, like apples?" Dek gave Max a knowing grin and she winked back.

During their time at Manticore, more than once, Max had procured breakfast for Dek in the form of apples. It had also been one of those times that Max had gone into heat on Dek's lap.

_Good times,_ Dek thought, peering over his shoulder at Max's long legs partially hidden beneath the table.

"What about you, tall, dark and geeky?" Max asked Dek. "Your plans for the day?"

"It's Saturday?" Dek asked distractedly. "Then we were gonna coast around for some Xs. You?"

"Well, I don't have work today," Max said, "thank Renfro! I guess I could help you guys do the searching thing. Manticore knows I could use the help."

"Now if I said that you needed help, you'd hit me," Dek quipped.

Max narrowed her eyes at the blond. "What kind of plan of action do you guys have?"

"A bad one!" Aiden said with his mouth full of hot toast.

"Dek's plan?"

"Dek's plan," Aiden confirmed and Max nodded.

"Hmm, bound to be bad then."

"Hey!" Dek turned around, finally giving the conversation his full attention. "My plans are not bad!"

Max and Aiden exchanged amused looks.

"Oh, really?" Max folded her arms as Aiden grabbed his coat. "Who's bright idea was 'Let's wake Pix up with the water-hose, he'll never guess it was us!'?"

"Or 'Renfro won't notice if we bunk off for the afternoon.'?"

"Or 'Alec will never suspect a rear attack.'?"

"Or—"

"All right, all right!" Dek held his hands up in surrender. "So, some of my plans were less than stellar!"

"It just proved what I knew all along," Max said as she and Aiden headed for the door, leaving Dek to grab his own coat and follow quickly.

"What was that?" he sneered.

"Manticore's induction program didn't include an I.Q. test!" Max poked her tongue out at him and raced out of the door.

A blurred form shot after her and the door slammed on an empty room.

>

In actuality Dek's plan was one that Max had been following herself; pick a quadrant and walk it from end to end, keeping an eye out for distinguishing marks, tracks or rumours. Make friends with local bar staff, let coins exchange hands to be informed of 'weird stuff'.

But their being together was better than any of them searching alone. Max was pretty enough to handle the old men who just wanted a smile, and Aiden was more than a match for those who wanted more. Dek was able to charm the ladies and between them they covered far more ground and had more fun doing it.

Max probably laughed more with Dek and Aiden in that one afternoon that she had in the last month combined.

It was almost like being home again.

"Damn, I miss Pix," she said and her two companions agreed.

"He always knew how to make me laugh, and the crazy thing was that he could get away with absolute murder."

Aiden paused. "Can't we all?"

"I didn't mean literally." Dek smacked his head. "I meant that some of the stuff he tried, if we had done the same the Trainers would have had us in Psy Ops faster than you can say 'ouch'."

"They found him funny, and he had a knack of always tying it to the lesson of the week," Max said. "Don't you remember when we were learning about misdirection?"

Aiden burst out laughing and had to stop, bracing his hand on a nearby dumpster to steady himself. "Do I ever?"

"I missed that." Dek pouted.

"Misdirection, you make them look one way whilst you are secretly heading the other. Oh, Pix used that like a charm. He posted a note on the door to the conservatory that said "In training for Clown academy. Please look up." Of course everyone who opened the door looked up."

"And tripped over the trip wire he'd laid across the doorway," Aiden gasped for breath.

Max laughed along. "Next to a sign on the floor which read "sucker". I swear almost every single X in the place fell for it."

"Except you," Aiden pointed out.

"Except me." Max grinned. "I just slapped him. But then he did it in the Trainers lounge."

"Ah, yes, the infamous Trainer pile-up of 2018. I remember it well!" Dek chuckled.

"How he got away with an informal reprimand I'll never know!" Aiden shook his head.

"Wait," Max peered closer into a shop window. "I think I see someone I know, give me a minute."

Max left the company of her two friends and walked into the dark interior of the shop. She had seen some familiar blond spikes.

"Sketchy, that you?"

The zany man turned and his face split into a huge beaming smile. "Max!"

"What you doing?" she asked, genuinely happy to see her friend.

"Just partaking of some fine Herbal refreshment from my friend here." He patted a black Rasta with dreadlocks longer than Max's own hair.

"Hey," Max said. "Look, Sketch, there is someone that I want you to meet."

"Later Brek!" Sketchy waved to his friend and followed Max out of the shop squinting in the bright light.

He saw two men standing to one side in deep conversation. Both were tall and broad shouldered. One had dark blond hair, a few shades darker than his own, and the other sported light brown hair. They were both good looking with amiable faces and Sketchy grinned as they looked him up and down.

"Guys, this is my good friend Sketchy. He got me the job at Jam Pony. Sketch, this is Dek and Aiden."

"Hi!" Sketchy waved brightly, happy to meet friends of Max. When she had first arrived at Jam Pony she was quite quiet and both he and O.C. had despaired of her coming out of her shell. But with these two guys it seemed that they'd get to see a side of her that they hadn't before.

He gave them a once over wishing he had the same good looks. "You guys need a job? Because Normal is kinda hard ta deal with."

"No, we don't," Aiden laughed at the funny nerdy looking guy. "We are…financially independent."

"I've always wanted to be that," Sketchy said enviously.

Dek clapped him on the back. "Thanks for taking care of our Maxie, though, appreciate that, pal."

Max poked him in the shoulder and he drew her into his arms. "Your Maxie?"

"Yeah," Dek swooped down and planted a kiss on her cheek. Max rubbed it away with a baleful glare at him but the glint in her eyes betrayed the fact that she wasn't displeased about it.

"Urgh, boy germs!" she said.

"Can you believe that she was voted most mature?" Aiden shook his head.

"Hey, you're supposed to be on my side!" Max complained and Aiden immediately looked contrite.

"Sorry, Maxie, you're right. I'm a bad friend."

Sketchy watched the interplay between them and grinned. "Hey, do you guys take the show to Broadway? Coz that is some cute act."

All three glared at him and Sketchy stumbled back from the collective force of the glare.

"We,"

"Don't,"

"Do,"

"Cute!" They finished in unison and held it for a moment before bursting into laughter at the horrified look on Sketchy's face.

"Whoa, you guys are seriously scary; did anyone ever tell you that?"

Dek hopped up onto a nearby wall and pursed his lips. "Did anyone ever tell me that I was scary?"

"Your manners maybe, but not you." Max grinned as she insulted him.

Dek grabbed his heart. "You wound me."

"Only once," Aiden added. "And only due to poor outdoor lighting."

"Outdoor lighting, hell! She deliberately put me in med-bay."

"Did not!" Max screeched. "You were the one who wanted to spar."

"Work with me, she says," Dek pointed Max out to Sketchy. "You'll be fine. I spent the next few days with bruised ribs and cracked bones."

"Days?" Sketchy frowned. "I thought it took months to get over that?"

They paused.

"Days…of bruises, months of agony," Dek corrected slowly. "She packs a mean punch."

"So, you guys were doing martial arts together?" Sketchy asked innocently but with unfeigned curiosity.

"Yeah, we trained for a while for this volunteer army thing back home," Aiden explained hesitantly. "It was more a free food, free gear type of thing."

"I hear ya!" Sketchy said. "They tried to recruit me once upon a time but I failed the written. I was too stoned to write my name."

Sketchy stared, bemused, as his new friends rolled around on the floor in hysterical laughter.

>>>>

Max sat on the roof of the building staring out at the stars, lost in thought. She hadn't been home for two days, not since she had that fight with Alec.

She just couldn't take the idea of going back there to find the place empty, or even worse, knowing that Alec wasn't there by choice.

How had it come to this?

She and Alec were supposed to live happily ever after; it said so in all the stories. The Prince and his Princess were supposed to be happy.

She wrapped her arms tighter around herself and licked her cold lips. It wasn't fair the way things had happened.

She had told Alec that she hated the way he was always leaving her and not supporting her and he seemed to care more about his job than he did her-- that wasn't supposed to happen.

But who was at fault here? Had she not asked him properly, maybe even nagged him to much? Had she not given him the freedom that he needed or the comfort that he requested?

Or was it him, did he just not care?

Max rubbed her forehead getting more and more annoyed with herself.

Two days.

She hadn't seen him in two whole days.

She couldn't recall another time, short of missions, that she had not seen him in that long. Not since he was in Psy-Ops, and even then she had visited as soon as she had heard.

She had spent the days with Dek and Aiden, catching up and making plans and the nights she had slept on the couch, not counting the first night which she had spent with Dek.

They spent the daylight hours searching, whilst Max thanked Manticore it was the weekend. She was to be back at work the next day and didn't want to be at all. She would rather be with Dek and Aiden having a joke and reminiscing than slinging packages at lowlifes who never bothered to tip.

Together they had covered quite a large area of downtown Seattle already but had found no one else.

The trouble was that they had been taught to hide too well.

Max sighed again.

"I don't have a penny but I can give you a Hershey bar for your thoughts," said a voice.

Max grinned at hearing him. "Hershey's worth more than my thoughts, Dek, and I don't steal from the blind."

"I'll eat it myself—"

"But I do tax the stupid," she finished. "Hand it over, boy."

Dek dropped and sat by her curving his body around hers. "So, what deep dark thoughts were we having this night?"

"Life, the universe and everything," she sighed.

Dek tightened his arms around her. "You know they have a cure for that, right?"

"They do?" Max blinked.

"Uh huh, it's called beer."

Max smirked and leaned back, glad to be in the comforting arms of her best friend.

"Aiden's in the kitchen," Dek offered when the silence dragged. "I think he wants to make you muffins," he paused. "I'm worried about him."

That elicited a laugh from her. "Why, because he likes to cook?"

"It's the sheer volume of cooking he does. Last night I _dreamt_ of him in an apron."

Max raised her eyebrows. "Is there something I should know?"

Dek poked her in the side. "No. He's not my type."

"So glad to hear it."

"Is he yours?"

Max shifted. "Well, he has the tall dark and handsome thing coming on. I seem to like that."

"It would describe Alec well," Dek hazarded and Max sighed heavily again.

"I don't get it!" she said exasperated. "It's crazy. He loves me, I love him. It's like one of those crazy soup-opera things that Cece got hooked on, on that mission in Rio."

"I remember," Dek sniggered, thinking of an open-mouthed Cece staring at some guy called Cole and wondering if he was really the father of his mother-in-law's baby.

"It's just…I never thought Alec would be like this… I never thought_ I_ would be like this." Max groaned. "Okay, happily ever after was never really in the cards for a genetically enhanced super soldier cum lab rat. But some happy wasn't totally alien, right?"

"Hmm," was all Dek said.

"This never figured in on the fairy tale, ya know?"

"Yeah, well. I never thought I'd be sitting here. On the outside… without Drew," Dek sighed. "Shit happens…apparently."

Max gave an unhappy laugh. "Does it ever. I'm sorry about Drew. We will find her, I promise."

"I know, Maxie, I know. I have complete faith in you."

"Nice to know someone does," she whispered and if he hadn't been sitting so close with transgenic hearing he would have missed it.

There was a long moment of companionable silence between the two of them.

"I'm sorry Alec is such an ass recently, Max."

Max shrugged. "Yeah, well, he—"

"But," Dek interrupted, "I'm not sorry really, at all."

Max spun quickly and gave him an odd look. "And just what the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"If Alec was being good to you, you wouldn't be here… with me."

Max looked up into the deep blue eyes of one of her best friends and was unnerved by the slow fire that burned there.

"Dek." Max bowed her head searching for words.

Dek touched her cheek with his forefinger and let it slide down her satiny skin to end under her chin. He smiled softly as he lifted her face, her eyes meeting his with the motion.

"Do you remember what I told you, last time we sat like this?"

Max bit her lip as she remembered standing with Dek on top of the highest building in Manticore. It had been after one of her many fights with both Alec and the others… after she had fought with Anna and Feen, almost pulverising the former in the gym.

Dek had come to meet her and tell her how the others felt; he had told her of his plans to get Drew back and… Max caught her breath recalling the end of that conversation.

_"Between your charms and Pix's tricks, she doesn't stand a chance," Max had prophesied with a smile, "she won't be able to resist you."_

_"But if she does, I'm just letting you know that you're next on my list." He kissed the top of her head and she could feel the curve of his grin in her soft hair. "Fair warning."_

_Max smiled, her face lighting up at his soft words. "Gee, I'm runner up."_

_"Credit where it's due, I'll have to fight off Zan, Pix and Alec for you, Max." He poked her rib cage. "I'll be all battered and bruised when they're done."_

"No-o," Max cleared her throat and tried again. "No Zan or Pix around this time."

Dek shook his head slowly. "No."

"You're in love with Drew."

"I am." His gaze dropped to her lips as his head descended.

"I love Alec."

"You do." He hovered above her mouth, their breath intermingling as their gazes locked; chocolate and sapphire. Max found herself breathing in tandem with his hot, ragged puffs of air.

"This is—"

"Crazy," he completed as his head lowered slowly.

Max made one last protest. "Dek."

Dek smiled against her lips. "Max."

Her eyes drifted closed as their lips met.

* * *

Okay, okay please put away the rope! Lynch mobs are so passé!

With thanks to my many wonderful reviewers without whom I would just stop writing and go back to bed.

**Geminangel**- I'm gad he seems less of a jerk, it was hard believe me!

**Ellenemi**- Kick in pants- gotcha.

**Spanishwon2123**- He will, don't worry he gets a huge boot up the butt next chapter and will be as good as new again.

**Sigma1**- Yes you and no good looking sweet and innocent missy, I know you!

**Moonlightangel18**- Cheers pet, how was that for interaction? Mwah!

**Suenooneus**- he does redeem himself, please don't hate him.

**Jensens wifey chadz lover-** thank you sweety, glad you like.

**Mae**- could have warned me about the squeal!

**Messymissy-** she is so much better when she is happy isn't she? And having them together means much more banter which is great. Alec will come right again, I promise. Who was the one person that always managed to get Alec being nice to Maxie again? Dek. See what he does now!

**Kiwifriut03- **It does serve him right for being male here.Always yay for Dek.

**Moonlite star- **Great, I don't want him a big jerk—just nicely misguided.

**Bluejean452-**the banter is what makes things special between them, I think.

**Tina N Blair- **I haven't updated in a while- I have had all sorts of problems so! I was trying to explain Alec's behaviour as something other than him being a male prat and I hope that I have succeeded here.

**Starr Light1- **See, I will deliver- eventually!

**Keekee- **I think Alec's problem is that he doesn't understand what she went through. He didn't live through that and so he doesn't think it as serious as it was and Max won't tell him because of her pride. Its not being nasty to tell me what I have forgotten—I do forget.

**Raven-** Good, I'm glad that he doesn't come off as being irrational. I'm sure having other SO's around will push things along.

**Angel of darkness231-** Cheers pet, I will try to do this faster.

**Black rose9- **Will do, pet.

**Kristibella- **It did take me longer than I thought- mad huh! But another long chapter here for you! What happens when Max goes into Heat? Good question.

**Feenian-** Good, please don't stop! I love knowing that people are enjoying this as much as I am. Even if I do take forever and a half to update the damn thing!

**Lynn-50670-** Ooh looks out for their cameo into TC- fun galore!

**Ganko- **very long awaited and okay just two but hey it is Dek and Aiden! A few more issues in Alec's case—like a whole back series but he'll be fine soon.

**His Vampira-** Aww bless ya, I am so sorry for not updating faster I really am. I will make Alec stop being a jerk now, he's done. The Gill girl thing just had to be written didn't it?

**Guest type person**- Good, I'm glad that you trust me! Dek and Aiden always make my night!

**Honey00**- I think that two heads are better than one and now that someone is working with rather then against Max we will have more meetings.

**Lotamoxie**- Don't despair- review and kick my ass into posting. Honestly I am such a scatter brain at the moment!

**BlueAngel137**- Alec needed a reality check and he is going to get that, one way or another.

**I love Alec**- I will update PO as soon as I can- two fics plus whatever else I have going on makes for rush jobs I'm afraid, I will try harder- my mid-year resolution

**SGOU**- LOL, oops sorry pet, here I updated mid-week for you so hopefully you will catch it quick. Logan will be coming into this story and bringing a few well known characters with him. Alec has picked up quite a lot from Max and I promise I won't have him as an ass for very long. He isn't totally oblivious and will be making his apologies. Yeah he really was living in the land of delusion if he expected Max to be the good little house wife! Ah see why I chose Dek? He was one of the only ones that Alec ever felt truly threatened by…and with good reason.

**Erak**- it's so hard when you are trying to find your way. I was s supervisor in my old job and now I am starting from the bottom again- its so difficult not to know anything when you are so used to knowing everything! I made this chapter long as well, hope that you like it as much as the last one. He found Nemo!

**Hell's angel**- Thank you, I'm glad that you enjoy this. I have to admit that it is a favourite of mine too, even though it does take me far too long to update—at least its not once a year.

**Nevanroy**- here ya go—enjoy

**Natacup82-** sorry that you have been in withdrawal, my advice when this happens is to go back and read it all again. Should take a few days at least.

**Sweettweety06**- Cheers angel, glad you liked that chapter. LOL, I will keep typing and try not to die. I do love this story though and will hopefully see it through to its end asap.

**XxInsanityXX**- I know I make it easy to hate Alec—you can tell I have guy issues at the moment can't you? Go ahead and scream I find it cathartic—although not at work obviously.

**OrignalProxy**- he is a bit of an ass but he will improve in the next few chapters, honest.

**Daisy**- there are worse things to be hooked on…skinny dipping for one- very embarrassing. I am glad that you like this so much, thanks for reviewing.

**JG**- thanks for the vote of confidence and I am glad that you think that they at least have the reasoning and motivation even if it is not right. Thank you.

**Kim**- something between Max and Dek—oh I think you got your wish in a weird way. I do think that Alec has some growing up to do and he is not so different to the shows Alec when you think of it.

**Anarchy21**- Thank you for reading and for reviewing—it was nice to hear from you.

**Electricgurl**- I know I know, hangs head in shame, I am so bad, I will update faster. She says. Yes of course you can have one question…was that it?

**Elfie**- Yeah he really has got it coming, and he will get it, worry not. OC doesn't know Max as well as she did in the show but we will see her thoughts in the next chapter—Loud and proud just how we like our OC. Pin the tail on the donkey? LOL. Who has the donkey DNA? It's Aiden isn't it? poor guy.

**JadeK**- the banter was one of the things that was missing in the early chapters of this, methinks and I am glad that I have them back, makes things work better

**Magickal-one- **Hey there, welcome to the dark side! Grins Thank you for the praise, I would have liked the series to go like this too, of course if James Cameron writes like I do we'd be on our sixth season with no sign of stopping anytime soon and each episode would be a month apart.. best leave it to the professionals! I think the best praise is when someone sees the relationship as what it could be. Thank you.

**X5-459- **see, only one month instead of two! I'm getting better!

**SGOU- **I know, you were very good and I appreciate that… and since you emailed again I got my ass in gear and sent this to my beta and now you have the next chapter- See what happens when I am poked. Thank you pet. Although standing on your head etc will make it harder to read this.

**Athena80- **Well caught up pet! Wow that took some doing to do, glad you could join us.


	11. 10 Wind of change

I just want to say something to these people who randomly sit down and make computer viruses… GET A GIRLFRIEND! Do they not realise that unleashing harmful trash onto people's computers loses valuable data, prevents them from updating and otherwise pisses them off BIG TIME? I mean do they not have lives? What makes someone sit there and think "oh, I'll screw with someone's day today." Assholes.

Ahem

That said, here's the update which if you want to blame me for being late, see above and remember that Chaotsi has leant me a flamethrower—what's the saying? "I have PMS and a flamethrower- excuse me did you say something?"

That reminds me, for all those who haven't joined the DAdiscussion group in Yahoo. We nominated June as Dark Angel month and everyone is making something to ass be it pics, fics, manips, vids, stick figures. If you wanna do something to join in- email me! It's a blast and one girl already has done Mole a la maid Marian- v.v funny.

**_BTW the reviews are as long as the story, but since no one is complaining, i wont say a word. 63 reviews for that chapter! 63! thank you soooooooooooo much._**

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Chapter 10 Wind of change**

Alec McDowell wasn't one given to introspection. He had always been an act first, act again and think later kind of guy and, although it had kept him from being killed on multiple occasions, right now that kind of mentality wasn't helping.

It had been a week since he had walked out on Max.

A full week without seeing her smile or her laugh, her glittering eyes or her temper.

He had started out with feelings of righteous indignation which had spiralled into deepest despair within hours.

He had let her go.

He had had her and he had let her go.

Was he mentally retarded in some way? Did he get hit on the head in training? Was there some basic sequence in his DNA that yelled 'asshole'?

He had been after Max since she had kicked his ass across the room nearly eleven years ago, and after no more than a few months he had thrown her away.

Oh, there was a special place for him all right.

But there had been something holding him back from going to her and apologising and that had one word.

Pride.

So instead of going back to the flat and telling Max exactly what was wrong and having some spectacular make up sex, he had spent the last week punching the hell out of every fighter in the circuit. It felt much more satisfying than punching the walls.

His nights he had alternated between sleeping in the locker room and accepting beds from friends… the few he hadn't beaten to a pulp anyway.

He hadn't even dared to go back to the apartment just in case she wasn't there.

Where would she be otherwise, maybe she had met someone, maybe she had just left.

Terror swept through him at the thought of her just up and leaving Seattle without letting him know where she had gone and it was almost enough t have him running back.

Almost.

Of course, two days ago Alec had reminded himself that he was not some pansy-whipped little wimp, but the infamous Alec McDowell, X5-494, who could have had any woman in the whole of Manticore up to and including Renfro, if his digestive system would have allowed it.

Alec shuddered at that thought. There are some places that the human mind just shouldn't have to go.

So, Alec had gone out jogging, trying to muster up enthusiasm to actually do something. He had passed highway three and sector six stopping for lunch at an all-you-can-catch fishing dock and the carried on for no other reason than he wanted to. That night that he had spent under the stars reminded him of being back on missions, just hearing the swish of the wind in the trees and the gentle snores of his fellow soldiers. It had done more to calm him than any fight that he had been in months.

The next day he ran through the far-fields of sector 9 and made his way through sector 11 checkpoint security.

And now he stopped running, catching his breath, at the crest of a familiar hill.

With slow steps he mounted the grassy verge and peered over the horizon.

Before him lay a veritable tableau of history—his. The expanse of land that stretched out from the bottom of the hill for miles was more familiar to him than the back of his hand.

It was home.

Alec stared down at the charred ruins of his childhood home and it was as if time had frozen for him.

The once proud site of the most technically advanced scientific research in the world was now no more than a few blackened bricks and shattered glass.

The wet dew under his knees made Alec realise that he had crouched to view the wreckage, a throwback from when to stand on this hill meant manoeuvres and maintaining the illusion of camouflage.

Alec slowly rose to his feet and made his way down the hill towards Manticore. The grass was wet and slippery under his feet and once would have catapulted him into the electric fence. Now that fence had long since been deactivated and torn down. The few wire shards that remained of the advanced security system were pathetic reminders of the once impenetrable fortification.

A fitting symbol.

Alec walked into what had once been the courtyard and he fancied that eh could hear the echoes of long ago drills and yells.

_Eyes Front_

There was the spot where Max had kicked him in the unmentionables after their last fight here.

_I need you Max. I need you too._

Wasn't that where Biggs had fought with Pix over Chance?

_You are never going to touch her again! No-good, arrogant Romeo!_

He remembered fighting with Aiden right here, on this very spot, if he looked hard enough, he could still see the blood stain.

Alec looked around the Training Yard. There was more blood than he remembered. Of course all of the bodies would have long been taken away but the stains had withstood rain, snow and sun to seep into the tarmac forever proclaiming it a graveyard.

Or a massacre.

Alec shuddered and walked over to the burned out husk of the main building. The walls still creaked with the effort of holding the place up and debris littered the floors.

But to his expert eye and ingrained sense of direction—added to the fact that he had walked these hallowed halls so often that he knew them without looking—he found the room he was looking for.

There. That was where he had first seen her.

"_You know if you squint hard enough you can see the space needle?" _

That was where he had met Max for the first time, where she had kicked him.

"_And here I thought you'd missed gentlemanly behaviour 101 when you barged in here without knocking."_

Although the walls were crumbling and the glass had exploded out from the fittings, he traced the edge of the window that she had been looking out of the very first time he had seen her.

He had been right. If you squinted hard enough you _could_ see the Space Needle.

Alec smirked and pushed himself away from the window, moving back to pace the walls that he had once called home.

Each and every step, every single stone, every room, each hallway; was a memory.

That was where he had first met Chance; a scrawny looking kid that had been pushed into their dorm and given to Biggs.

That was Carrot's first kiss.

That was where Cece had thrown up after her first field med course.

That was where Max had mimicked a Trainer and had them all in hysterics.

This was the spot where Dek had tried to abduct Max with Flex's help.

That was Pix's last prank.

That was where Steve had learned to juggle.

That was where Metz had caught Emma changing; the poor guy blushed for a week.

That was where Feen first kissed Techie.

That was where Max had forgiven him.

Alec brushed a lock of hair away from his face and was shocked to find his face wet.

He was crying.

Absently brushing aside those fat tears Alec ducked a trailing wire and found the stairs he hadn't even realised that he had been heading for.

The stairs led to a chamber; the chamber led to a hallway; the hallway led to a staircase; the staircase led down.

The air grew fetid and stale, whether in reality or just in his imagination, and it made him shudder with unrestrained fear.

It was odd how the things that scare us as children can be blown out of all proportion when we are grown and Alec knew that better than any. The anomalies that had terrified him as a child had turned out to be nothing more than his hairy predecessors. Fuzzy, fluffy and hungry, but mostly harmless.

But there are also some terrors that only got worse with the telling.

Alec took a deep breath and pushed open the door.

It was just as he had remembered; had he ever cared to remember it.

The room had been unfairly untouched by the fire as if the elements themselves were loathed to touch the place.

The long steel table was no longer as shiny as it had been, the months of disuse and neglect lending a tarnished sheen to the surface. Or maybe it was dried blood that gave it the rust colour, he couldn't be sure.

The instruments were scattered all over the floor in disarray and he nudged them with his feet knowing what each and every piece did and exactly how much it hurt.

He could even predict exactly how loud he would scream with each piece.

_Duty, discipline, mission._

Alec's fists clenched as he trailed his hands over the table and looked up into the screen.

A blank screen.

_When in enemy territory any sign of sympathy is weakness. Compassion is a tool they use against you. Sensitivity is NOT permitted. You have no emotions. Strength is your tool. _

Alec shuddered.

_Duty._

Psy-ops. The place where they took who you were and moulded it into the person that they wanted you to be.

_Discipline._

He had been 494 and Max had made him Alec. He was Alec.

But what Max didn't know was that this place had always held a part of him. The part that said; "Wait, stop, don't get too close." The part that cautioned; "What if one day we have to kill her? What if one day we have to walk away? How will you live like that?"

He had been drilled from birth that to get close was to be vulnerable and he had fought against that vulnerability with all his might for all his life.

Until a fiery ball of '09er fell into his lap and he had fallen.

And she had turned into another master, he was a willing slave but she was still in charge.

They had fallen in love, true. But even in that, it had always been on her terms, no matter what Max thought. She had called and he came running. She threw a temper tantrum and he begged forgiveness. He had been the one to go to her.

In letting her have all of the power he had been trying to run away from what he really was, what he was capable of.

After Rachel died it had been so easy to let someone else do his thinking, his feeling and he had needed her to do that for him.

But in doing that he had only see Max for what she could do for him, he had never seen her for who she really was.

That much was evident from the dream that he had had of her being the perfect housewife

That wasn't who Max was, that had never been who she was and he knew that.

He had hadn't _seen_ it. What was that human phrase, he hadn't seen the wood through the trees?

Had he ever seen Max through the master? The master that he had always seemed to need in his life to tell him what to do.

When Manticore had burned he had been so glad to get rid of that reminder of himself that he had almost tried to get himself to believe that it had never existed.

He had been so insistent that Psy-Ops was nothing but a bad dream. Hell, that Manticore was nothing but a lie.

But it wasn't. It had been real and he needed to face that.

He did not need a master. He didn't need someone to tell him what to do.

What he needed was someone to understand him and love him nonetheless. What he needed was someone who he could be on an equal footing with.

What he needed was Max; but this time on his own terms.

He needed to start seeing her for the person that she was and not the person that he wanted her to be.

He could face his demons, even if they were inside himself.

Alec grinned at the stainless steel table as it reflected his face in a bizarre twisted effect making him look sinister.

"You have no power over me."

And he turned. Never to look back.

>>>>>

Aiden rubbed his hands as he watched Max and Dek sitting on the back porch together. He was well aware of what had been going on between them this past week.

After the night that they had kissed, Max had come into the house a mess, alternating between being anxious and hurt and Aiden had been the one to calm her down.

He had been sitting on the couch when she had stormed in.

"Max," he had said absently, not looking up from his paper. Her silence had made him glance up to see her wringing her hands in unease.

"Max?"

She looked at him, her eyes wide and almost fearful and it hadn't taken him long to put two and two together.

Aiden placed the paper down. "What did he do?"

"I kissed him… he kissed me…I don't…" she trailed off quickly and bit her lip.

Aiden opened his arms and Max sank onto the sofa next to him and leaned her head against his arm.

"What am I doing?"

"Making a right royal Manticore mess of things?" he quipped and gained a watery laugh in return.

"As always."

"True or false, Max. You love Alec."

"True," she replied without hesitation.

"True or false, you love Dek?"

Max opened and shut her mouth several times. "As a friend? Yeah, I do and he loves Drew."

"Dek's problem," Aiden said carefully, "is that he doesn't know whether Drew is alive or not and you are close enough to her to almost not matter."

"I feel like I should feel bad for being a substitute," she said blankly.

"Aren't you doing the same to Dek" Aiden asked. "I always envied the way that you and Alec looked at each other; like you were the only ones who ever mattered. Pix looked at Chance like that, Flex at Skye, Sunny at Biggs, Dek and Drew and Carrot and Tara."

"Feen and Techie?" Max sniffed.

"Hell no, Techie was too bewildered to be pleased!"

Max smiled.

Aiden continued carefully. "I was jealous of you guys because you seemed to have something that I never have. Yet you always took it for granted—all of you, not just you and Alec. You never realised exactly how precious that was. What you all had was…_is_ precious Max. Don't give up on that if you can just because you've had some difference of opinion. Have a break, have a think, but don't think about breaking until it's too far gone to repair."

Max had sat with him in silence for an hour before smiling gently and reaching up to kiss him on the cheek.

"We don't give you nearly enough credit," she'd said softly and Aiden had grinned.

"A genius is never appreciated in his own time."

Now as he watched them on the back porch he could see that Max had taken his words to heart.

Although she sat in the circle of Dek's arms she had refused to let their relationship go further than a few kisses.

Aiden grinned as he heard Dek's laugh.

He had wondered if his friends preoccupation was really to do with losing Drew or simply hating that Alec had the one he loved by his side only to push her away. He knew that if Drew were around Dek would never take her for granted or let her go.

Or perhaps he had the wrong end of the stick and it was just the Shark thing that kept them together like that.

Or maybe it was just him and he was just jealous, after all he had never had anyone like that. He had never found anyone that he had that kind of connection with and he felt it keenly.

What he wouldn't give to have someone look at him the way Max did at Alec. The room warmed up when they were in it together.

Aiden leaned against the window and stared out, lost in thought.

He was an okay looking guy, wasn't he? So why had no woman ever looked at him like that before? He didn't begrudge any of his friends the happiness that they had with their mates but…

"Aide?" Max had come in without him noticing, followed closely by Dek.

"Yeah," he quickly wiped his face, not willing to let see that he had been upset.

"You okay?" Max asked, her brows furrowed in worry over her friend.

"I'm okay," Aiden shrugged. "What's up?"

"We were gonna go out, maybe get take-out so you don't hafta cook, and we're celebrating Max not having to be in work for another twelve hours," Dek answered looking as troubled as Max did.

"Like it'd kill you to pick up a skillet," Aiden joked.

"Since I have no idea what one of those is, it probably would." Dek smirked.

"It would kill all of us; did you not smell Dek's Beef stew in Life Skills?" Max shuddered. "Even the rats abandoned ship after that."

"The meat was off!" Dek protested to their laughs.

"So was Cece's aim," Aiden chuckled as he recalled what had happened after the infamous stew had gone wrong.

"Hey, you guys wanna meet me for lunch tomorrow?" Max asked.

"I'll have to check my schedule," Aiden grinned. "I'm sure I can fit you in."

"Will your boss mind?" Dek mocked.

"You scared him!" Max laughed. "His all important client who would sue him and take away his business? As long as I say I'm keeping you sweet, Normal will take whatever we give him."

Dek snatched her close and planted a kiss on her upturned mouth. "Am I keeping you sweet?"

Aiden rolled his eyes in exaggeration and Max pushed Dek away with an exasperated sigh. "I'll grab my jacket."

She edged past her friends and towards the room she had been staying in whilst she was there.

Dek waited until she closed the door before turning to his best friend. "Aide?"

"Leave it," Aiden requested knowing that his friend wanted to know what was making him so unhappy before.

Dek eyed him. "Sure, pal. Just so's you now, I'm here okay?"

"I know." Aiden warred with himself before just coming out and saying it. "I hope you know what you're doing."

"What?" Dek gave a half-laugh.

"You and Max. Don't forget what you still might have. If Drew showed up here tomorrow you know you'd drop Max like a tonne of bricks. Which is how it should be. But if Alec shows up here, remember that Max feels the same."

"What are you saying?" Dek asked seriously knowing that his friend had a point.

"Kisses…whatever, is fine whilst you are in limbo, but you don't want to lose her friendship when things go south. When…not if. Max is too good a friend to lose that way. Just remember that."

Dek stared at him for a moment and Aiden wondered if he had stepped over the boundary and Dek would resent him for interfering.

The silence stretched as they stood there, in the kitchen, just staring at each other.

Dek swallowed. "Thank you."

Thank you for knowing and telling it to him straight. Thank you for always being there no matter what stupid things he was doing or going through. Thank you for never letting him down no matter what. Thank you for not letting him fall into the abyss when he couldn't find Drew. Thank you for caring.

Thank you.

Aiden nodded. "No problem."

Max walked out holding her leather jacket and motorbike keys in one hand.

"We ready to go?"

"Sure. Let's celebrate."

>>>>>

Although Alec had maintained that one warehouse looked pretty much like another, the warehouse that housed the messenger service known as Jam Pony was far busier than any he had seen before.

The ramp leading to the doorway was constantly filled with bikes going either in or out and gangs of loud youths talking and yelling at each other.

He edged in past two women arguing about their boyfriends, pausing long enough to give him the once over and smile beguilingly before continuing.

He heard the hard backbeat of someone's boom box screaming out for the girl to "walk this way".

His eyes took a second to adjust to the light as he walked into the centre and he paused to get his bearings.

To his right was a long desk where a tall man was scribbling something onto a clipboard and occasionally yelling obscenities at various youths who tried to scuffle by.

Hanging up all around him were bikes of various states of disrepair and the whole place had a feel of ordered chaos about it.

Two guys were playing at sword fighting with packages whilst a black woman watched idly filing her nails.

"Yo smackdown!" yelled one of the men triumphantly as he managed to knock his opponent over with his package.

"Yo bums!" the man at the desk yelled. "If those packages go awry then It'll come outta your wages!"

"Awree?" the blonder of the two inquired.

"Awry as in skewed, askew, off-kilter. As in you mess it up you buy it you feckless bum. Don't you have something to do?" The phone rang and the man answered it with a roll of his eyes.

"I'm on a break," he protested and Alec felt himself grin as he walked over.

"Ah, excuse me, sir?"

"Just a minute," the man said not looking up as he held a hand over the receiver, "be right with ya."

"Can you just tell me where I can find—" Alec started but was interrupted by another man with dark hair as he elbowed past carrying a huge bouquet of flowers.

"Delivery for a 'Max Guevara'."

Alec's jaw dropped as he stared at the Snapdragons overflowing on the desk. Flowers for Max? His Max?

"Ooh, boy!" the black woman sashayed over. "Look at them!"

"Jeez, that's a big bunch of flowers." The blond man went to touch one of the petals but was slapped by the woman.

"Hands off, fool. My girl don't need no dirty dumbass messing up her posies, dig?"

"Fine, your original-ness," the man stepped back. "I won't touch."

"I think so too, these fellas cost a pretty penny." She sniffed delicately at them, the action at odds with her leather jacket and bright green pants.

"I don't care if they cost a pretty penny or a dirty dollar, get them off my desk," the man behind the desk snapped. "Where is missy miss anyway?"

"Max," the woman emphasised, "Is out with her man, again."

Alec's heart dropped into his stomach. Max was out with a guy?

"He's not her guy," the blond man said earning him all sorts of brownie points with Alec.

"Please," the woman gave his a look that said patently that he was an idiot. "Yesterday it was motor oil, today its flowers? If he ain't her boy then he soon will be."

Alec gritted his teeth. Not if he could help it.

"And it's about time too," she continued. "I hate ta see a girl moaning about some dumbass who don't deserve her. If she ain't gonna strike for my team than at least she can play a few rounds that end in a home run."

The blond leaned on the desk. "Did I ever tell you how much it turns me on that you know all sorts of sporting phrases?"

She raised one eyebrow and he quickly stumbled back, his hands up. "Not if I was straight and you were the last stoner on the planet, Sketch."

"You wound me, O.C, really."

"I wish."

They had the perfect banter of two people who had been friends long enough to know what barbs hurt and what didn't and Alec realised that in an odd way they reminded him of Flex and Skye.

As he turned back to the counter the man had finished his conversation and looked up.

"What can I do for you?"

Alec opened his mouth. He wanted to find Max that was all. He had come here to ask if Max wanted to go to lunch with him. That way they could talk and get things out on the open. He could explain what had caused his preoccupation and his latest tantrum and he could try to make things right. Get to know her all over again.

But that wasn't what came out.

"I'd like a job." He blinked and quickly added, "Sir."

The man opened his mouth to deny his request when the blond man spotted him.

"Hey, I know you, you're that boxer dude."

Alec winced. "Uh, yeah."

The man behind the desk widened his eyes in recognition. "Monty Cora?"

"Who?" the black woman looked less than impressed.

"Monty Cora," Alec explained scratching the back of his head in embarrassment, "It's a stage name."

"I once saw this beautiful man take down "Mangler" Miller in less than forty-five seconds flat. Wonderful! Bravo!"

"You tripping, Normal." The woman said rolling her eyes.

"No, it was magnificent."

"Uh, thanks…Normal?" Alec wondered if that was the guys real name at all.

"Please, call me Reagan. So you're looking for a job, huh?"

Alec nodded quickly. "Yeah. Yeah, I'd love to be a part of Team Jam Pony."

He would.

Kinda.

"Great," Normal said. "I could use a good, strong rooster in the henhouse."

"You sure you want another testosterone laden male around with all the suga here?"

Normal grinned. "Monty Cora this is Original Cindy, she'll show you the ropes."

Alec remembered the name from Max's tales. "Original Cindy," he paused. "Don't I know you from somewhere?"

"Gee," she rolled her eyes with added attitude. "I ain't never heard that one before."

"No, seriously. I know you." Alec tried hard to think. He had definitely seen her somewhere before. He shrugged, it'd come to him.

"You know where I could score a bike around here?" he asked her with his best charming smile.

Normal jumped in before she could answer, grabbing bike from a selection off the ceiling and handing it to him like the crown jewels. "Here you go. Here you go, easy-peasey-Japanesey."

"Thank you," Alec said politely even though the guy was creeping him out. "Oh, uh, don't I need one of those, uh, sector-pass things?"

"Yes. I'll put in a request; you'll have it by morning." Normal simpered at him and Alec felt like he needed a wash. "O.C. show our new rock star the ropes."

Alec grinned widely at her. "So, O.C. you gonna show me around?"

"Now don't you be fluttering them baby blues at me, boo. I don't swing that way. You better play up, fella coz I ain't about to get canned for some pretty boy. You act like a useless male around me and I will smack your ass down."

Alec frowned, that sounded familiar.

"_Oh no you don't go flutterin' baby blues at me, I don't swing that way. Now ya nearly made me crash and that woulda made me late and get me canned for you being a fool. Now I almost broke a nail stopping for you so quit acting like a useless male, get offa the sidewalk and I won't haveta come offa my ride and smack your raggedy ass down, you dig?"_

Alec's grin suddenly became genuine. "I knew I knew you. Last year, you almost mowed me down in the high street by the church and helped me find my girlfriend."

Original Cindy cocked her head for a second before motioning him to follow her. "I dimly recall. Did you find her?"

Alec smiled sheepishly. "I'll let ya know."

She eyed him dubiously. "All right then pretty boy, lets see ya do this."

That morning Alec found out that there is far more to being a bike messenger than he had ever expected and he winced as he recalled all the times he had ignored Max's complaints.

People were rude, packages were heavy, uphill was murder, tips were poor, weather was bad and sector cops were plain mean. Alec had butt ache from sitting on a bike all morning and he was sick of smiling for his tips.

He lay on the floor of the recreation ground and moaned loudly.

Sketchy grinned. "See, I keep telling people that prostitution isn't such a bad deal compared to this."

Alec laughed. He and Original Cindy had met up with Sketchy around sector 3, the second time Alec had fallen off his bike, unused to the balancing that had to be done. Alec decided that he liked the odd blond with his random asides and faint odour of herbs.

"Yeah," he laughed shortly. "And here I thought getting my ass whupped in the ring was bad."

"Like you ever got whupped!" Sketchy defended and Alec grinned at the loyal blond.

"Thanks, Sketchy, it's nice to know that I have your support."

"Huh," Original Cindy said with a roll of her eyes. "Damn fool men, you know I gotta ask. What is the appeal of gettin' in a ring and cracking the cranium of some steroid pumping pimp on crack?"

Alec and Sketchy stared at her blankly for a moment and then shrugged. "It must be a guy thing," Sketchy grinned. "Like kung fu movies and—"

"Standing up to pee?" O.C. cut in.

Alec gasped on a laugh as he lay back down, hidden from the glare of the sun as he settled against one of the many barrels that littered the recreation ground. He stared at the sky feeling content with himself for the first time in days. He watched birds as they swooped and dropped and relaxed listening to O.C. and Sketchy arguing above him.

"You a sucka for any fool that comes along peddlin' any hooha, Sketchy! Show some class. Weed ain't blue!"

"But he said it was specially grown, O.C. and Mad Hamish is one of the big dogs."

"I don't care if he a big fat cat delio, he shows up pushing this crap on you again, and me and him are having words. Period."

"Look at you, all mama O.C."

Alec froze as he recognized the carefree teasing voice of his beloved.

"Hey Max, please tell this woman that I am perfectly within my rights to smoke blue weed," Sketchy whined.

"Dumbass," Max laughed and reached up to ruffle his hair. "Now doesn't blue weed reduce sperm count or cause impotence?" she pretended to muse whilst Sketchy grew pale.

"Impotence?" he reached into his pocket, sagging as he tossed the clear packet of suspicious merchandise to O.C. who giggled.

"You go girl!" she enthused and Max grinned.

"Well, we don't know what that would do to him and we have to take care of our Sketchy, don't we?" she pinched Sketchy's cheek and he rolled his eyes, patently pleased with her attentions.

Alec sat up. "Maybe it's you who is the mama, Max; I mean you do try to take care of everyone."

Max froze as she looked down at Alec, her whole body tense.

"Alec?"

O.C. looked between her friend and the new guy. She didn't like the way that the smile, that had been a new fixture on her friends face these past few days, had suddenly disappeared. "You two know each other?"

"Yeah," Alec said, letting his eyes run all over as if it been longer than a week since he had last seen her.

"Hey, Max, you didn't tell us that you knew Monty Cora," Sketchy said, not quite picking up the vibes.

Max wrapped her arms around herself. "Monty Cora," she said flatly not lifting her gaze from Alec's shirt.

"Sketchy was a big fight fan."

"Oh."

And that was it. he half expected her to yell at him and demand what he was doing there but she seemed really uncomfortable. With a sinking heart Alec wondered if she really was seeing someone new and what he would do if she were.

"Boo, you okay?" O.C. asked eying her and Alec dubiously.

Max nodded and glanced up at Alec. Alec swallowed. "Can we talk, Maxie?"

Max shrugged and stepped away from her friends, Alec following quietly until they were across the park, away from curious eyes.

Max couldn't believe it. He was here, Alec was here. She was depressed, she was elated, she was loathe to read too much into it. She had had such bad dreams that something had happened to him and then there he was, standing in front of her. With her friends.

Why was he with her friends?

"What are you doing here, Alec?" she asked looking everywhere else but at him.

"Actually," he said humourlessly, "I'm on a break, my new job is kinda demanding."

"New job?" Max's voice was very careful.

"Oh, didn't I say?" Alec said innocently. "I joined this bike messenger service called Jam Pony."

Max's jaw dropped. "You did what?"

Alec shoved his hands into his pockets and shuffled his feet. "After we fought I got to thinking about stuff and I—" he took a deep breath "—I know that we have both made a lot of mistakes, mostly my fault here, I know that. But you were always the one thing in my life that I have been able to count on." He looked up with honesty written all over his face. "Max, no matter what else, I love you. No, I. Love. You. Really, as in…I can't…" he raked a frustrated hand through his hair and then he grabbed her hands, shaking her a bit with the force of his emotions.

"What happened?" Max asked softly, wondering what was wrong with Alec.

"You asked me why I needed you to stay safe." Alec began desperately urging her to just listen. "You wanted to know why there was one set of rules for you and another for me."

"Yeah."

"I've never been good with words, Max, you know that. I'm not Shakespeare. But I do understand basic chemistry—elements that, when you put them together always react. Oxygen and hydrogen make water, its elemental, a… a force of nature. But without it… without oxygen, ya know, hydrogen is just a gas." At her frown he tried to explain. "What you do to me, Max, feels like force of nature. You make me more than I am, you make me react. Without you, I'm just hydrogen. Shit," he swore at his ham-fisted attempt. "Not exactly Shakespeare."

"No," Max whispered. "Shakespeare never made me feel this way."

Alec drew in breath, feeling hope at her expression. "My point, Maxie, is that if anything ever happened to you, I couldn't go on living. There would be no point. You said yourself that you don't need me—well I need you."

Max ducked her head feeling ashamed of herself for those spiteful words, spoken in fury rather in truth. She had berated herself over and over for what she had said that night, even though she may have felt that way at the time. She did need him. She didn't want to but she did and that was what had grated so much. She had brought herself up to believe that she didn't need anyone; that she could and would do it all alone. It had been as much a comfort as it had a defence mechanism and she had clung to it fiercely.

But now as she stood here before an Alec was seemed oddly altered since their last meeting she wondered if it was worth it. Was it worth hiding her feelings if it left her with nothing? Nothing risked, nothing gained.

Max swallowed and stared at Alec who seemed to be fighting for words again.

"Manticore raised us to do as we were told, in time it was natural to want to be ordered- it kept us from thinking for ourselves. We never saw the Trainers as people, we saw them as automatons handing out orders and we followed blindly. It was easier to justify killing someone when we knew that we had no choice. Max…" he paused and then forged ahead, "You were always so forceful that it was always my gut feeling to follow you, to do as you bid because it was easier than thinking for myself."

Max stiffened, was he saying that she was like the Trainers?

"I loved you because you still gave me the choice, even if I didn't realise it at the time. You gave me what I needed and still helped me to be myself, but I guess I never really saw that. I saw you as who I wanted you to be, not who you were and **that**, _that _was our problem, Max. I never saw you. It took almost losing you to make me open my eyes to you."

"And now?" Max's voice was thick with unshed tears.

"Now I'm asking… begging—" he bit out "—if needs be, for you to give me the chance to see you. Please, Max," he choked, "let me see you."

Opening her arms Max let Alec fall into them, embracing him as hard as she could.

That was it. That was why she had never totally let her guard down around Alec, no matter how hard she tried. She had been aware, on some level, that although he knew Max—he didn't know _her_. Now he was asking for that knowledge, he was asking to be let back into her life and to finally actually live there rather than just exist.

She couldn't refuse him.

"Alec," she said dashing away tears as she pushed him away.

Fearing that she would reject him Alec surged forward. "I quit my job," he blurted. "No more ring fighting for me, ever."

Max let her lips twitch as she tried to regain herself. "Good, because you get eyed way too much for my peace of mind, pretty boy. If you are gonna be my man then I don't wanna have to drop kick some bitch for staring at ya."

"So," Alec looked at her with hope, "I get to stay?"

"Yeah," she frowned at his obvious glee. "But don't let it go to your head, Alec, you are on probation."

Feeling much more like himself, Alec grinned lasciviously. "Yes, ma'am."

Max rolled her eyes. "C'mon, Romeo, I wanna speak to Sketchy about something."

"Yeah, I see you doing that Mommy act." He teased. "Maybe we should head out and search for some of our own family…you never know what the kids have been getting up to in our absence."

Max spun on her heel. "You mean that?"

"Yes."

Max couldn't help it; she beamed beatifically at Alec before reaching over and punching his shoulder. "About damn time too, soldier!"

"Ouch!" he rubbed his arm and followed her back over to their fellow bikers. "You hurt, Max."

"Baby," she rolled her eyes.

"Harpy," he responded, fighting the grin that this oh-so-familiar exchange caused.

"Dumbass."

"Always about my ass," he shook his head. "You know this obsession you have with it isn't healthy?"

"Like I always said, Alec. You have to have one redeeming feature."

"Pretty boy has a redeeming feature, boo?" O.C. commented as she overheard their conversation.

"His ass."

O.C. casually walked around him staring at the aforementioned butt. Alec felt odd to have her stare at it.

"It's cute, but it ain't all that." O.C. passed judgement.

"Hey, that's prime material!" Alec defended trying to see his own backside and looking, scarily, like a dog trying to chase its tail. "Help me out here, Sketch."

Sketchy paused. "Uh, dude. I like wrestling and all, but I'm not checking out your ass, what am I? Normal?"

"Yeah, that was freaky-deaky," O.C. said. "Normal was totally jamming on your boy here."

"How do you know each other anyway?" Sketchy asked suddenly. "Do you fight in the ring, Max?"

"Nah," Max dipped into her bag for something to eat, coming out with a squashed cookie. "Never wanted to advertise my wares."

"Me and my Maxie go way back, right, honey?"

Max winced at the pet name, knowing full well that was why Alec had called her it.

"You're her boyfriend?" Sketchy blinked. "But I thought you were dating that other g—OW!"

O.C. pretended her elbow hadn't made swift contact with Sketchy's chest and smiled brightly. "Who wants pizza?"

Alec slowly turned to Max, not missing the guilty look that spread over her face. "Other guy, Maxie?" He tried to sound innocent.

Max sighed. "There's someone that you'll probably wanna meet."

* * *

Lynn-50670- Thank you for reviewing, pet. I love Dek and Max together too, but I adore Max/Alec more, so don't worry about me leaving them together for too long.

Erak- It does seem like my own fandom sometimes, I must admit that I often hope to see BJ/Anna stories pop up! lol I hope I've not put you off writing a Max in Manticore fic, we so don't have enough of them!

Ronda TIW- Of course not, like I'd do that to my little Alec! Plus I respect my cult members too much to do that! mwah!

Senorita DHL- I hope he was redeemed in this chapter. I do love Alec, really. To collect on the kiss you need to send a SAE and £400 to…. LOL.

Suenooneus- Thank you for reviewing, sweets, sometimes the making up is far more fun that the breaking up—it'll all be worth it!

Kim- you are a hard one to please, angel! but I had to try. Alec had his reasons for being an ass and all will be right in the world…HAH! Much banter now that they are together again.

Hphotshot- gracias pet, glad you like. As for Terminal City—jeez hold your horses, or ya know a chapter  . I can't believe you skived off school! Oh I am so in trouble! Btw what HP ship do you subscribe to? (I assume that's what the hp in hphotshot is)

Jynx- Ahh pet, so sorry that you've been broken up with. If you send me your email address I'll send you a nice picky of Dek with very few clothes on—least I can do.

Caboodle- Bad author? Bad girl—yes, Bad author—no! I am fragile in my self esteem lol I live to be cruel but more soon.

Aur- Hope this satisfied you, pet. Alec was given more to do this chapter, so we can see him in his full glory—enjoy!

Raven- well I may have let Dek and Aiden on Dark Roof, but next chapter I lock Dek and Alec in a room together after Alec finds out about him and Max. How's that for evil?

Sigma1- LOL- Fayth destroyer? Sounds ominous. The warning was there for a reason—so I am glad that it met with your approval—one of my staunch critiques. I hope you feel that hey have been dealt with sufficiently.

Chaosti- Yeah I know, I'm bad. I don't hate you for being AWOL if you forgive me for taking so damn long to update! But yay for the flamethrower! Booyay! Its hard when you love a character but want him out of the way whilst you play, I hope I haven't done Alec too much damage. I can't sell Dek just yet, he hasn't finished cleaning the cooker. It's a great compliment that you can read a certain scene over and over- thanks pet. As for attention getting-0- I want photos of THAT!

Fangedangel- I know, I know, I've left it a long time with no update. I have no excuses…except the one about the dog eating the homework but I wouldn't believe that one, since I have no dog.

BlackRose9- if you killed Alec who'd be for Max when Dek got Drew back?

Lotamoxie- yup, sure did.

Moonangel18- LOL, really? Thanks sweetheart. I didn't do it to torture you.. at least not specifically evil grin

NoAngel- glad I could make you happy, pet. I'm glad that you realised that it had to be done, it's not all fun and games when two people are together. Sketchy is adorable, I just wish I had more time to write him in!

Geminagngel- Thank you for reviewing, angel, glad someone reads the AN.

Kristibella- thanks for forgiveness, sweets, I will make things better and no magic wand needed. The heat thing…wait and see.

Feenian- thanks you! I need protection from the lynch mob- they can be so scary! It'll be better when they are all together again, I miss them!

Tiggi- LOL- at least someone is happy with the Dek/Max kiss. I wouldn't let it go to far, Max may not be a paragon of virtue—but I am and I find it hard to see her with anyone else! Thank you for reviewing!

Iridescent Twilight- hey there, not seen you before, thank you for reviewing. The lack of update wasn't my fault but I vow that the next chapter will be out soon.

SGOU- OML! How do I reply to that without writing an essay? I so read that wrong, I thought you wanted Aiden and Alec to get together as in get together! That is one I'd have to deny…I'd drool but deny… maybe. Alec's behaviour was somewhat unreasonable but I hope that with this chapter you can at least see where he was coming from. If he isn't redeemed here, then at least he is on the road to rightness. Nude Dek! Hehehe. Oh no! I made you cry! So sorry…but not. The banter is back now that they are together and, oddly enough, it makes chapters almost surge forwards (wink), I have three in waiting to be betaed. I'm glad that you picked up on the shark DNA as one of the reasons that M and D feel so good around each other- its true. Another biggly wiggly one for you soon, too.

QuieraStarwberry9- I don't think that you are the only one that feels for Alec, at least I know I do, I hate being nasty to him, because I know why he does what he does. I think it is a man thing, which, not being a man, I don't get totally, but I am trying. I hope this went some way to helping that image of him.

Anon- First up I do thank you for reviewing and I totally appreciate constructive criticism. I am very much a Max fan because I always felt that most fanfic writers maligned her character and let her be too much S2 instead of S1.I am a M/A fan too. I realise that it may not seem it at the moment and hope I haven't neglected Alec to prop an original character as I hate that myself. The thing is that Alec in the Left Behind series isn't the Alec in the show. For the simple reason that his background and History has been different to the show's Alec. Instead of being on his own he has had a firm family support network- thanks in large part to Max and, in keeping him to canon in essential, he takes her for granted. I always saw Alec as being very laid back but quintessentially selfish. In that I don't think I have moved too far from canon but his experiences have moulded him to a certain degree and so he isn't show Alec—he is LB Alec. So in that you are right. I hope it doesn't spoil your enjoyment of the fic.

Bluejean452- Nah, its fine, I knew that it wasn't going to be a popular choice. I won't keep them together long. Thank you for reviewing anyway, sweets.

Acb- cheers pet.

Messymissy- Thanks for reviewing, I'm glad that you thought it was a good chapter. I think the reason that they are so good together is that they are so like each others partner Drew is very much like Max and Dek is like Alec. LOL, I don't want to turn you into a D/M shipper- Alec has his reasons, which I hope that became clear here. I'd love someone to make a fanfic of my fanfic! How cool would it be to see a Zan/ Drew fic or something like that!

Nevanroy- Thank you for reviewing, I am glad that you review; even only a few words, I appreciate that you took the time to do so.

Kiwifruit03- I feel like Laurel and Hardy- that's another fine mess they've gotten into!

Ash- gee thanks! Don't hate me, have Fayth that I will fix it!

Nicky- I know, I tend to enjoy the shock factor and twist tings to my own ends! Its like being Frankenstein- the characters are alive! It is just for comfort…and to give Alec a boot up the ass. You know Dek was the only one that Alec was afraid of the competition. He'll be a good boy from here out, scouts honour.

Gmaegirl452- Sorry pet, it has been a while but hey, what can ya do? LOL, okay I get that you think its wrong, ill make amends, honest.

Fan- cheers pet, and yes a happy ending will be forthcoming.

Jade-k- hey pet, wow I made you speechless- that's pretty darn cool!

Shyleigh3- I confuse and abuse but you know ill make it all right in the end.

Jessa- hey there! Thank you for reviewing, and I hope that it continues to please!

Moonlight star- tense but needed, good way of putting it! and yeah, it couldn't al be plain sailing- because that is boring!

Guest type person- you didn't see it coming? Oh well, I guess that was the point, grin I'm sure I can persuade Alec to drop by with a smootchie for ya! I'd like to have something against Dek! Heheheheh

Lanlie- hey sweets, glad you think it's the best yet! I hope that I don't change Alec to prop up my original characters, I hate loathe and despise it when writers Mary sue their fics with intent to wound. Also my Alec cant be like the shows Alec because he has had different upbringing- I never saw Alec as prime CO material he was far far too selfish for that, but My Alec has been changed by Max he isn't canon Alec! Sorry about updating once a month, the muse hasn't struck. Now she's back I hope to get doe more often.

Honey00- I have plan, a good plan, involving Jam , sweet corn, and a small army… oh wait, that's my plans to take over the world- ignore that.

CharmingAngel;- hey there, sweets. Thanks for reviewing. I stopped there because it was fun. The next part will be even better, trust ,me. Things are moving faster now. The link broke! I will fixit.

Keekee- Thank you for reviewing, pet, glad it was worth the wait. This part will be too!

Sassycanuck- there was more Alec in this chapter—lots more Alec! Enjoy it, and yeah they meet up with more soon.

XxInsanityxX- cheers pet, yeah it was Dek…and Zan who liked Max. But don't worry she wont be without Alec long.

Ganko- gracias, intriguing perhaps, maybe enticing. Definitely complicated and more than little crazy. All good words. Yup I got that hint…with a brick.

Sweettweety06- Thanks for reviewing, pet. LOL, love it and hate it, just don't stop reading it.

Magickal one- hey there, he is an ass right now, but he does have a redeeming featurette here. The relationship may be screwy- but whose isn't!

BlueAngel137- Max and Alec's emotions always seem to run high- sigh. It's a love/hate relationship at the best of times! But I guess that is part of being transgenic. It is fun when they fight though, I have to admit that the angst does me good.

Lostmarbles- hey there! Well I fulfilled your request and got Max and Dek together, even for a short while. They do suit don't they! And I am glad that you think they have chemistry. More soonas.

Sarah- Hey there! Thank you, sweets, for the compliment, I am glad that it still appeals. It is a long fic to read in one sitting. But I think its the height of compliments when you want the original character to be with the series one. Thank you so much. Hugs.

Elfie- yup, had to thrown that in! its weird but good and no, I wont blame it one heat, its all genuine emotion. Yes to transhumans, no to Asha, at least I don't think so. These old characters have this propensity to pop up unexpectedly. I keep expecting Herbal to peer around the corner.

Suffie- hey there, nice to see ya. Its not nice to have them hurt, but things will get better, promise. The banter is always fun and I present my thanks for the compliment.

Electricgurl- lol, thanks pet, question is….no. Alec wouldn't see Logan as a threat. He's too old, he's human, a broken human at that. he'd see it as laughable. Dek is far more of a threat than Logan could ever be. Besides Max doesn't even like Logan after what he did to Tara.

Ev- damn you had some catching up to do! the twists in the relationships are odd, I know but I hope they work and are believable. Thanks for the compliments, I am so happy that you think I've captured Max and Alec, as well as making my characters "real". Enjoy this part too.

L80bug- Thanks for reviewing, pet. He is starting to be more like himself again. it'll be great to have the gang back and talking again.

Mou- hey there, sweetheart, thank you for reviewing. Even once is great if you don't get time to do it. 10 times! Wow, I don't think I have read it that often! Thank you for saying so, I do hope to be a professional writer one day, who knows maybe Dek and Aiden will make it rich for me. Until then I am happy to keep pleasing you guys.

Toniboo- Hey sweetheart, sorry it took so long to update but I'll try to be faster. Left Behind is found by linking to my name and looking for fic under fayth3 or alternatively go to and you can find all myy DA stuff there, along with pictures. 

Aku-neko- three days? Wow, it'll probably take me that long to read them too! It is one long fic..epic! its great that you like the direction the story and the believability of the characters. I often cried whilst writing it and love to know that others feel the same. I hope that my Max always has motivations behind her and I show this in flashbacks. Thank you so much for reviewing and it was great to hear from you. Enjoy this too!

Tiggi- yes, I know I'm sorry about the time lapse. See my AN at the beginning if the story. A spin-off…….. you _are_ joking. Right?

Right?

Pixie Wildfire- Open your eyes, its all over.

Blissfully jaded. I have! Thanks for the review sweets. Enjoy this as much, if not more.


	12. 11 Ive got your picture he's got you

**Hey all, many thanks to those who joined in the DA month and made it so much fun. The site is up at www. geocities. com / newworlweekly/ damonth for those who want to check it out (no spaces obviously) someone asked about the Da discussion group- also found at DAdiscussionboard at yahoo groups. **

**As for me. I have been writing this and Pressing Onwards, organizing Driving lessons, dealing with DAmonth, writing my first orginal book and reading Harry Potter and the "Oh my life he can't be the" Half-blood Prince. I would rant about it, but i choose to maintain dignified silence.**

**This is where Dek and Alec meet- mwah hah hah hah haha- enjoy! and thanks to those that reviewed- you rock.**

_With thanks to Itay- my beta and to Princess Incognito- you know why, pet._

**

* * *

Chapter 11- I've got your picture… he's got you.**

Bearing in mind that Max was a super-human mix of kick-ass bitch and kung-fu warrior, it was a little unnerving for her to actually be inwardly cringing as she stepped up to the dilapidated warehouse that housed Aiden and Dek.

So used to being the one in charge who made others do her bidding or face her wrath, Max didn't like the feeling of not knowing what was coming next and this was one instance where pre-cognition would have been a handier skill than being able to open a can with a nail.

The basic fact of the matter was that she wasn't sure how Alec was going to react to the presence of Dek… and visa versa for that matter. Although they had appeared as friends once upon a time, it wasn't as if they weren't recognised rivals for her and Dek had always been the only one that Alec had felt threatened of.

_With good reason_, Max thought as she remembered the few kisses that she and Dek had shared recently.

Alec, for his part, was watching Max with something akin to amusement. It was the first time in memory that she has seemed unsure of herself in his presence and watching her twitch was something that would stay with him. She hadn't explained anything to him; all she had said was that she had someone that he should meet and then had instructed O.C. and Sketchy to tell Normal that his newest rider had torn a hamstring, or something, and would, hopefully, be back tomorrow.

Then she had dragged him out here to a converted warehouse on the outskirts of town and stood, almost dancing at the door in nervousness.

"Max?" he prompted as she just stared at the door.

She jumped a little, as if she had forgotten that he was there. "Right, door," she said blankly and stared at it.

Alec reached over and rapped twice with his knuckles. "It's called knocking, Maxie."

"Right." She frowned again and brought her hand up to her mouth, chewing on a thumb nail.

Alec stared at her, horrified. "Hey, Feen!" he snapped, "What did we say about waiting until lunch?"

"What?" Max stared down at her hand, before her mouth twitched into a smile. That was what they used to say to Feen who had had this awful habit of chewing on her fingernails until they were down to the bone. She had ignored their attempts to stop her until Pix had coated her hands with tobacco residue while she slept.

It had been three days before she spoke to Pix again, but at least she stopped the disgusting habit.

Max put her hand down and squared her shoulders. "Right."

"That's three 'right's," Alec pointed out, "Anyone would think that you were nervous for some reason."

Max swallowed and, for the first time, Alec felt more than a slight worry that whatever was behind the door was more than he could cope with.

When he had heard that Max was being courted by another he had been annoyed, but not particularly worried. After all, he was a transgenic, what could any guy offer that was more than what he had? He had super stamina, he had superior strength, he was great-looking, he had history with Max, he had her best interests at heart and knew all of her secrets…most of her secrets; what else could anyone else offer?

But the quieter Max got, the more that tiny little niggle of doubt that had blossomed in his chest when he had seen those flowers, grew bigger and began to make him uneasy.

"Max…who is it?"

Max just shrugged as they both heard footsteps coming towards the door from within.

Alec braced himself even as he reassured himself that no matter what, he could offer more to Max that any damn human could.

He had nothing to fear.

Nothing to fear.

The door swung open and familiar blue eyes stared at him coolly.

"Oh, it's you," Dek said crossing his arms.

Alec blinked. _Oh, Shit._

_>>_

Certain human phrases Aiden had never understood at all; exactly what was a white elephant sale? Why would someone _want_ a white elephant? How exactly would someone 'go for a Burton' and why would you pick bones with people? Needless to say he left 'in a pig's eye' and 'as queer as folk' well alone.

However the phrase 'you could cut the tension with a knife' was brought home to him quite literally as Dek walked back in the room followed by Max… and Alec.

His mouth had lifted in greeting for his favourite lady-transgenic, only to flee quickly at the mutinous look on Dek's face and the blind simmering fury on Alec's.

Alec stormed in so closely to Dek that, had he wished to, Aiden could have hit them both with a single blow. As it was, he was wondering the best way to extricate himself form this potentially hazardous situation with minimum of blood-shed… His own, of course.

Dek and Alec had brought this whole thing on themselves.

"Hey, Alec," he said as blasé as he could.

Alec's gaze swung to pin on whomever else was in the room and he relaxed marginally when he realised that it was Aiden lounging at a table, sipping coffee.

"Hey," he did a double take. "Hey, longer hair suits you, pal."

Aiden grinned and nervously fingered his hair which had grown in the few months that he had not seen Alec. It had taken him by surprise one morning when he had to tuck the dark locks behind his ear, but he did look better—even if he did say so himself.

"Thanks, Alec."

Silence.

"Sooo," Aiden drawled, "how are you?"

"Curious," Alec said not taking his eyes off a glowering Dek. "How long have you guys been in Seattle?"

Dek sat on a large wing-back chair and leaned back, throwing his booted feet over the arm of the chair. "Forever," he said arrogantly, lifting an eyebrow at Alec. "Wouldn't you say so, Aiden?"

Aiden looked from Alec to Dek and then over to Max who had discovered that her feet were far more fascinating than she had ever realised before.

"Sure," he tried, wincing at the strained sound of his own voice. "Since the fire anyway…and of course, Manticore is pretty much in Seattle so I guess since I arrived at Manticore from Atlanta years ago… It is five years, isn't it? Yeah, it has to be, I mean there was the call for Special Ops in 2016 and that was almost a year of tests, then, what four years of Special Ops training? I suppose you could say that I have spent 5 years in Seattle… It seems like forever, but then when things happen like this…" he trailed off as he realised that everyone was staring at him. "Shutting up now."

Max couldn't help the grin that spread over her face. "He has a point," she said. "I spent seven years in Wyoming after the '09ers escaped and then shifted over to Seattle, it's hitting on for six years now."

"Gee, Max," Dek teased. "I've known you for only six years?"

Max rolled her eyes. "Feels like a lifetime."

Alec watched this byplay with barely concealed irritation and, although he was loath to admit it, anxiety.

In all his years as Max's best friend the only one that he had ever been worried about as a potential rival, was Dek. Oh sure, Zan had given him a few moments worry way back at first but that that had soon petered out when he realised that Max would never see Zan as anything other than a big brother substitute. But Dek was a different matter.

He was arrogant, playful, seductive and enticing, as well as a dangerous bad-boy (Max's weakness). In fact, Dek was far too much like Alec for Alec to be comfortable with him around Max.

When the door had swung open to reveal the pout on Dek's face, the worry that, just maybe, he was in for more of a fight than he originally realised, exploded and he actually felt quite sick with trepidation.

He had been the best of the best, because he gave his all to be near Max. Dek had it in him to be just as good, if not better than Alec, after all it was in their genes—all he had lacked was motivation to push himself that extra mile.

Did he now have that motivation?

Would Alec literally have to fight for Max?

Dek watched as myriads of emotions crossed Alec's face and he hid a malicious grin. Whilst not evil by nature, he did have a wicked streak, especially when he knew that this arrogant ass had hurt Max; hurt her bad enough so that she was willing to find solace in Dek's arms. He knew that he would have to relinquish Max now that Alec was back in her life… That didn't mean that he had to make it easy for the man.

With a mischievous glint in his eye that made Aiden grimace, Dek motioned for Max to come over, which she did reluctantly, knowing that whatever was hatching in Dek's brain was unlikely to have great repercussions for her. Dek pulled her into his lap and smirked at the white cold fury that blazed in Alec's eyes.

Aiden surveyed the scene with almost agonising hesitation as the game was set, Dek had Max in his corner— for now— and Alec was stirring up righteous indignation over seeing his girl in someone else's possession.

Aiden wondered if he had enough time to maybe pull something cunning and head off the disaster that was bound to happen.

Maybe if he bound and gagged both Dek and Alec until Max could explain, he could prevent World War IV from staring in their living room.

Maybe it wasn't—

"So, Alec, staying long _this_ time?"

—Too late.

Aiden and Max winced simultaneously.

Alec's eyes narrowed at the territorial way Dek pulled Max to him and the challenge in his voice.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

Dek's mouth twisted into a parody of sincerity. "Oh dear, did the big bad wrestlers mangle your brain too? You used to be kinda smart."

"So did you," Alec countered. "Although I have to question that, since you seem to have developed a death wish." His eyes fell on Dek's hand on Max's waist.

Dek's hand tightened reflexively. "No," he said, "Not a death wish. I'm just better at keeping what I cherish close to me. Unlike some."

"Tea," Aiden said randomly and half stood. "I could make tea."

They spared him a glare.

"It always works for the English," he sighed as he sat back down.

Alec bit the inside of his cheek to stop the curses that threatened. Dek, however annoying, had a point. He hadn't held Max close and now was at the risk of losing her to this… this… pretty boy.

"So your game plan was always to lie in wait for what was never yours in the first place?"

Dek smirked. "Who said I had a plan? I just don't let opportunity pass me by. I'm not one to throw away gold."

"I didn't throw it away."

"Temporarily mislaid it?" Dek asked innocently and Max was suddenly overcome with the insane urge to giggle.

She had gravitated over to Dek's side because she knew that he was feeling mischievous and, to be honest, she had wanted to get back at Alec at least a little for what he had done in leaving her.

However, much she acknowledged that part of it was, indeed, her fault.

But the last thing she wanted was to be in the middle of an all out war, in which, she suspected, she had no real place anyway.

They might think that they were fighting about her, but she knew better. They were transgenic boys and they needed to roughhouse a little. A quick tumble and they'd be feeling better.

That sounded so wrong.

She got off Dek's lap and walked over to Aiden, sitting down and pulling his coffeepot over to fill a second cup.

"Oh, don't mind me." She waved. "Carry on."

Dek hid a grin at the dumbfounded look on Alec's face. Honestly, did he really think that he was any threat to Alec's relationship with Max?

Dek knew that Max belonged with Alec, just like he belonged with Drew… when he found her.

That wasn't saying that he didn't have feelings for Max, because he did. Max was so much like Drew that it had seemed a natural extension for him to reach for her when Drew wasn't available. The thing was that Max knew that; even without being told by Aiden, they both knew that this thing between them was more convenience than anything else. They were both also aware that should their other half return, they wouldn't hesitate to be with them.

That didn't mean that he couldn't mess with Alec a little.

Alec, for his part, wasn't far away from reaching inside Dek to check whether his old friend's heart was still beating.

Aiden smiled down at Max as she sipped his lukewarm coffee.

"Urgh!" she said and shuddered. "This tastes like the crap they gave us back at Manticore."

"I was craving the old fashioned comforts of home."

Max eyed him. "Would you like me to tie you up and beat you?"

Aiden pretended to consider it. "Maybe later."

"Uh, excuse me, serious fight here," Dek reminded them and Max grimaced.

"Sorry, I'll be quiet."

Dek wasn't able to stop the grin that spread across his face at her pretend penitence.

Alec looked between them, realising that there was something going on here that he wasn't completely aware of.

"Look, Dek," he said seriously, "thank you for taking care of Max while I was indisposed, but I think I can take over from here."

"Indisposed?" Dek grinned "Is that what they are calling it these days?"

"They used to call it sulking," Aiden added.

"Or pouting." Max ducked her head at Alec's incredulous glance.

"How about being an ass?" Dek challenged.

"Great, someone else you has a fixation with my ass!" Alec threw his hands up. "Why do I even bother?"

"I always wondered that," Dek said, "I mean any normal guy would just give up."

"I'm not normal," Alec said without thinking.

"I'll agree with that," Max said cheekily, leering at Alec.

"Me too," Aiden said and then paused, "Although probably not for the same reasons."

"Unless there was something going on between you and Dek that I didn't know about," Max raised an eyebrow in query.

"I must admit to feeling a stir every time I saw that apron," Dek admitted.

"Too much information, thank you," Max said in disgust. "There are some things that need to stay hidden."

"And some things that shouldn't," Alec brought in and the lighter atmosphere disappeared as if it had never been there. "What's going on between the two of you, Max, Dek?"

Max glanced over at them both and then stared directly at Alec. "Ask him."

"But not in here," Aiden said quickly, standing up. "I just cleaned in here and bloodstains are hell to get out. Go into the back."

Dek nodded and stood up too. "He has a point. Let's finish this conversation out back."

Max watched as Dek and Alec walked through the door and shut it carefully behind them. She turned to Aiden. "Tell me that this is a good idea."

"This is a great idea," he said confidently.

"Really?"

"No."

>>>>

Aiden and Dek had turned the back room into a training room of sorts. They knew that they had to stay in prime shape if they were to keep one step ahead of White and Manticore. Thankfully, the converted warehouse had plenty of space and the back room was a perfect place to fight and train.

Alec followed Dek into the room and watched warily as the blond shoved his hands in his pockets and leaned against the wall.

"So," Dek said arrogantly. "You wanted to talk?"

"What happened between you and Max?" he asked.

Dek shrugged. "Nothing that we both didn't want."

"Did you sleep with her?"

"Maybe," Dek hedged. They'd slept in the same bed but hadn't had sex, so technically yes he had slept with her; although he'd probably get ripped to pieces if he told Alec that.

Alec's eyes hardened as he regarded Dek. The man's face was no longer full of boyish mischief. He was deadly serious as he stared back at Alec and Alec felt something primal rise inside him.

"Maybe? Maybe you slept with her? If you're unsure then it couldn't have been that memorable. Maybe you don't have it in you to keep a woman like Max happy."

"But at least I've never made her cry." Dek refused to rise to the bait. He was well aware, almost painfully aware that this was a deadly situation that had to be navigated carefully if both of them were to get out unscathed.

Alec's jaw tightened. "I always wondered about you, Dek. It seemed that you could never keep your hands off what didn't belong to you."

"She isn't a possession," Dek stated, watching Alec' posture carefully as he began to tense.

"No… That doesn't make her any less mine."

"Maybe she'd have something to say about that."

"Would you listen?" Alec snapped. "Seems to me that you have some sort of mental block against women saying no."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Dek demanded.

"Drew," Alec said flatly, "where is she?"

"I don't know."

"You don't know or you don't care?"

"Too far, Alec. You go too far!" Dek roared as he pushed away from the wall. "Drew has nothing to do with this."

"Bullshit," Alec said succinctly as he circled Dek, "or have you decided out of sight out of mind?"

"You can blast your own problems up and down to hell and back, but keep your mouth shut about what doesn't concern you." Dek's hands shook.

"It does concern me," Alec said snidely. "After all, wasn't Drew supposed to be your one true love?"

Dek swung for Alec, snapping his hand out as it caught Alec's chin and, suddenly, the fight was on.

Alec staggered back from the punch and dodged the next swing by the skin of his teeth. The two men circled each other, knowing that they were well matched in speed and stamina but not wanting to give an inch.

"Max was supposed to be your one true love," Dek countered, "didn't stop you leaving her."

"I didn't leave," Alec said as he kicked Dek in the stomach. Dek buckled as the heel of Alec's boot caught his ribs.

He landed on his back on the floor with a puff of dirt to signal the less than hygienic state of the floor.

"I didn't know invisibility was one of your talents," Dek spat, "coz I never saw you around."

He kicked out at Alec and swiped him off his feet sending another cloud of dust and dirt to swirl in the air, almost masking his movements as he leaped to his feet stomping hard on Alec's chest.

Alec rolled quickly, feeling the ache on his sternum where Dek had landed his foot. He rubbed his chest as he stood to face his target.

"Or maybe, that's what you called tactical withdrawal?"

Alec snarled as his fist met with Dek's cheek, spilling blood from a split lip. Dek shook his head and responded with a fast blow to Alec's stomach, grinning evilly at the sound of a crack within his chest.

Alec gasped for breath wondering, stupidly for the first time, whether he and Dek really had any idea of what they were doing. Was this tension release or something more? If Dek punctured a lung would he care? If he snapped Dek's neck would _he_ care?

There was something animalistic in the way that that they were fighting each other—each one wanting to do damage over their mate. Alec could almost feel his teeth elongating in the irresistible urge to grab Dek by the scruff of the neck with his teeth and shake him into submission.

His hands clawed and he snarled at Dek, hearing him do the same.

He lunged for him, but Dek took to the air, somersaulting over Alec's body until he landed behind him. A crack to the head had Dek spiralling to the floor where Alec grabbed his leg, forcing it back. Dek retaliated with the back of his elbow against Alec's knee in a move that had them both grunting in pain as two bones snapped in the otherwise quiet room.

The only sounds that rang in the room during the next few heated moments were snarls and growls and the sound of flesh on flesh as they fought brutally with each other.

Dek dropped to the floor and kicked out, dragging Alec down with him and pinning him before Alec could move.

The sight of his once-friend staring up at him with bloodshot eyes brought some sense back to Dek and he shook his head.

"Alec—"

Alec bucked up, throwing Dek off him.

"Let me ask you something, pretty boy," he glowered, clutching his ribs. "Why my Maxie? She was mine and you knew it."

"You walked away and she needed comfort."

"So, what was the deal with Drew, huh? Were you with her because she needed comfort or was it just because Mets had her, huh? Is that your great plan, you only want what you can't have and when you've had her, is that it? Game over? Then you move on to someone else's girl? Where is Drew now?"

Dek grabbed Alec by his collar and slammed him against the wall.

"Listen to me, you arrogant asshole, Max came to me. Maybe you're the one that can't satisfy her." Dek was on the attack now as he lashed out at Alec. "Maybe what you should be looking to, is why would she come to me if you were able to make her happy? I mean, shit, Alec. You had her. You actually had the girl of your dreams, she was here and she was with you. You had a slice of paradise in your hands and blew it. For what? A few minutes in a dirty ring with a bunch of wrestlers?" Dek yelled dropping Alec and backing away from the fight. "You know what, Monty Cora? You don't deserve her!"

"You—"Alec opened his mouth but Dek wasn't finished.

"Shut up! Goddammit, just shut up." He pointed at Alec. "You have no idea how lucky you are? Max made it out—with you! You didn't have to go back and search for her among the dead. You didn't break your hands moving rocks through the entire ruins of Manticore looking her for body!" His voice cracked. "You didn't lie awake all night wondering if she was alive, hoping that she was safe; yes, even if she was with Mets. I wouldn't care if she was screwing him in broad daylight twice a week, if she was alive! But you… you just didn't get that." Dek's voice lowered and took on a pained tone. "You held your love in your arms and knew that she was there. She was with you and you threw her away like she meant nothing! It's you that called 'game over'."

Alec was silent as he watched the heartbroken look on Dek's face as he wrestled with those emotions.

"Dek," he stopped, having no idea what to say next.

"What if she's dead, Alec?" Dek whispered. "What if she… she..." grabbing his hair, Dek sank to the floor and shook.

Alec dropped to his knees, cringing at the pain in his knee, and clutched Dek's shoulders. "Shh, Dek, Shh, we don't know…we'll find her, I promise."

Dek swore as fast and viciously as he knew how, trying to dispel some of his tension. Alec sat through the drawn out expletives, feeling almost proud as his friend said words that would have made a sailor blush.

When Dek had finally exhausted himself, they sat side by side, with Alec's arm around Dek's shoulder, his hand stroking his hair in rhythmic strokes.

"You know," Dek said conversationally. "If Max saw us like this, she might get ideas."

And suddenly it was as if the last few hours hadn't happened.

Alec threw back his head a laughed, only to stop when his chest ached and his lip spilt again, dribbling blood down his chin.

"Ow." He rubbed at his chest. "Broken ribs."

"Baby," Dek said and pulled away from Alec's arm, whimpering at the ache in his muscles.

"Wuss," Alec chuckled at the mutinous glare Dek gave him as he staggered to his feet. Alec followed suit and almost whined at the pain in his body. Alec took stock of their injuries as he limped to the door. His leg was possibly broken and he suspected he had one or two cracked ribs. His whole face felt like a puff-ball and he could feel one eye swelling shut even as he stood there. His lip was spilt and he knew that blood trickled from his nose. Dek had fared no better though, he favoured one leg and cradled his arm against his chest. One eye had already closed and blood ran in rivulets from various cuts on his face.

"Aiden better have the ice ready," Dek said as he took tiny steps towards the front room again.

"I'm beginning to wonder if there isn't something going on with you and Aiden," Alec joked, "he's like a maid and a wife rolled into one."

Dek gave him a look with his good eye. "I was only kidding about the apron thing."

"Yeah." Alec laughed and then stopped his hand on the handle "About the Max thing."

"Didn't touch her," Dek denied. "Sleeping occurred but nothing else."

"I knew that," Alec maintained and Dek laughed.

"Sure, pal." He slapped Alec's back taking delight in the moan of pain that bubbled forth from his lips.

>>>

Aiden sat in the kitchen refilling the bowl with ice cold water and folding more towels.

"You know," Max said conversationally as she bit into her apple. "I don't remember you ever being this practical."

"It's being around Dek," Aiden teased. "Someone has to be the grown up…on occasion."

"You got nominated?" Max grinned feeling more like herself than ever before.

"Of course," Aiden gave her a look. "Do you even remember life skills class with Dek? No way am I ever eating anything of his."

She laughed at that recalling the unforgettable aroma of Dek's rotted beef stew. That had possibly been one of the most memorable days in life skills class… except for the pregnancy one, of course.

"Okay, so how did you get to be all home ec-ified?"

"Ec-ified?" he questioned, his eyes glinting in humour.

"Too many teen shows," Max said with a shrug. "I had to do something when I couldn't sleep."

They were disturbed by the creaking of the back room door and it slowly swung open to reveal a battered Alec, and bruised Dek.

"Sheesh!" Max rolled her eyes. "I was hoping you'd stop _before_ you killed each other."

"I'm alive, Maxie," Alec said as he sat on the seat next to her, "just damaged goods. Will you still love me?"

"That depends," Max eyed him. "How damaged?"

"I kicked ass," Dek said and gingerly sat by the sink. "Make me feel better," he asked Aiden pathetically.

Aiden grinned evilly. "Do I hafta?"

"No, you could leave him to suffer," Alec said brightly. "That would be fun."

"Play nice!" Max admonished. "Or I won't nurse you back to health either."

"Will you wear a nurse's outfit?" Dek's tone was hopeful.

"Hey." Alec's tone was less playful and full of warning. "Knock it off."

"Guys!" Max rolled her eyes and grabbed the towel off Aiden, rubbing at the blood on Alec's face. "Now that you have this out of your systems, can we start to plan what comes next?"

"Bed?" Dek suggested, ignoring the slight growling coming from Alec.

Aiden slapped him upsides the head and Dek cried out.

"Oops." Aiden looked apologetically to his hurt friend. "Sorry, pal." He leaned over to a tray and picked up a chocolate Brownie, still cooling, and handed it to a very forgiving Dek.

Max shook her head as Alec scrambled for a Brownie too. Honestly, she could have ended up with Drew, Sunny and Carrot—they would have been far more helpful. Hell, Steve and Pix would have been more use than this lot.

"Can we concentrate with coming up with a plan?"

"I was thinking!" Alec protested.

"You were talking," she corrected.

"I can do both."

"I doubt that."

"Well you just lost your tip," Alec pouted.

"Here's a tip," Dek said with his mouthful. "She was your CO, she's now your girlfriend and she can still kick your ass."

"Good tip," Aiden nodded sagely.

Max huffed, even as she was secretly pleased by their support.

"Hello! White?" She reminded them.

"Right."

Alec frowned as suddenly Aiden and Dek grew serious.

"White what?" he asked confused.

"Ames White," Dek said and then paused, glaring at Alec's look of ignorance. "Suspiciously more than human, less than transgenic guy who nearly whipped mine and Aiden's butts?"

"The guy that was with Lydecker the night that you freaked about the laser?" Alec seemed to recall Max mentioning something about him that night a few weeks ago, when she had come back from work late.

"The one and the same," Max nodded.

"Serious badass," Aiden agreed.

Alec flicked his gaze between them all. "Seriously?"

"Seriously," they chorused and Alec nodded, suddenly taking it seriously.

His eyes narrowed. "Tell me."

>>

The evening had well drawn into early morning when they had finished telling their respective stories and Alec had remained silent whilst his three friends filled him in on what he had missed during his extended stay in asshole-ville.

It could be equated to three short sentences.

Ames White was a very, very bad guy.

Lydecker was a very, very bad guy.

They were working together…which was very, very bad.

Simple. Effective.

Terrifying.

"So what do we do?" Alec asked once they had finished.

"I always like plan A!" Aiden said.

"Which is?" Max raised an eyebrow.

"Run."

"Huh," Alec considered that. "Is there a plan B?"

Aiden and Dek exchanged amused glances. "Not that you'd want to hear."

"Great, so we are plan-less?"

"No," Max glowered at him. "We are not plan-less."

"We have maps," volunteered Aiden brightly. "Big maps."

Dek rolled his eyes. "Why do I suddenly feel like the mature one."

"Renfro knows." Max rolled her eyes and stretched.

Aiden pouted, he thought that he had had a good plan. Maps were very useful and he and Dek had used them a lot. He realised that he was whining to himself. Maybe he was more tired than he realised.

He fetched the large grid maps of Seattle that he and Dek had managed to… borrow from the town hall and they all shifted in their seats to look over it, nodding at the bright colour coded dots that Dek and Aiden had placed over it.

Green dots for areas that could possibly house transgenics, blue for places where they had heard rumours, red for definite sightings and yellow stars for places that they hadn't searched yet.

"What's this place?" Alec pointed to a large area directly in the centre of Seattle marked with a few dozen green dots.

"Oh, someone mentioned that place to me. A dead zone in the middle of Seattle. Some toxic waste spill or something back in the day, only humans with nothing to lose go there because of the bio-toxins."

"But we're immune to the bio-toxins." Alec countered.

"We hope," Aiden scoffed, "Manticore messed up so many things, do you wanna chance that they _may have_ made us immune to some violent strains of chemical warfare? Because, hey, I enjoy not bleeding out of my eye sockets, thank you very much."

"A dead zone?" Max looked thoughtful. "Why is that ringing a bell?"

_Coco had sat with her head raised towards the light filtering in at the window, lost in her musings and ramblings. Max and Drew had grinned at each other as she spoke about her recent assignment._

"_So, what did you talk about?"_

"_I asked him to tell me the major job of R.C.F. Environmental Cleanup Demolition & Disposal," Coco reminisced. "He told me that they are mostly a construction business specializing in demolition of scientific outlets and headquarters like decommissioned military bases, government facilities, anywhere there might be containment issues."_

"_Containment issues?" Max asked curiously._

"_Yeah," Coco nodded. "Apparently there is this ghost town in mid-Seattle called Terminal City. It used to house Biological and Technical treatment and research centres, laboratories and that kind of thing. When the pulse hit, some of the facilities lost containment because the systems were computer generated. Some nasty stuff was exposed and they had to seal off the area in case of bio-hazardous waste. No one goes in there."_

"_Wow," Drew had mused, "Bet Renfro loved that!"_

_Max had snorted at that. "Yeah, let's hope she buys property there and catches the Black Death."_

"Terminal City," Max leaned back thoughtfully. "No humans go there, no police interference, not hazardous to transgenics." She grinned. "Gentlemen, I think we have found our friends."

>>

The gates of Terminal City were as decrepit and abandoned as they had been forced to believe and Dek's nose crinkled in disgust.

"I don't know, some paint, a set of curtains, it'd be nice."

Max, Alec and Dek turned to look at Aiden as one in pure, unadulterated incredulity.

"What?" he said, trying to stop the smile from spreading over his face.

Alec leaned over to Dek. "Exactly what have you been feeding him?"

Dek grinned. "It wasn't me; I think the power of the apron went to his head."

"Ha ha," Aiden said icily. "When you've quite finished, don't we have friends to annoy?"

Max shook her head and edged around to the back of the fencing. "I can't see guards anywhere, nor can I see surveillance or security. Someone is doing a sloppy job."

"So, let's point it out." Alec motioned to a flat platform. "Let's see if we can make it inside without being seen."

"With that knee?" Aiden asked, bemusedly as Alec favoured the leg that Dek had broken. Dek whistled and looked away.

Alec leaned over and prodded Dek's snapped arm, eliciting a strangled hiss from the man.

"Me and Dek will take the front door." Alec stated with no little satisfaction. "You go in through the roof."

"Escape and evade?" Max grinned. "My favourite."

Max took a leap and landed in a crouch on the corrugated iron roof, motioning for Aiden to follow leaving Dek and Alec to edge around the side of the fence. Dek stared up at them as they flew over the rooftops.

"I was better at target practice," he sighed and followed Alec.

They sprang across rooftops and ducked under eaves; they prised open dusty slatted window blinds and crept through into rooms that were older than they were. They had seen shapes flitting through the shadows and had seen people, _their people_, walking around without fear.

"Haven for the damned," Dek whispered to Alec as a short man with elephant ears and a snout ambled by laughing with a monkey boy.

"Freak nation," Alec breathed and smiled.

Aiden had similar thoughts as turned to Max with a grin. "Asylum?"

Max shook her head, almost choked up at the thought. "Home."

Max had never thought that this could be. Here they were in a city almost tailor made for them. No humans around, no fear of someone knowing what you looked like, just acceptance.

She turned back and looked at Aiden whose eyes glistened with the same thing that hers did.

Pure joy.

They had silently made their way to the centre of the city, the hubbub of activity and Max saw the structure that was making its way through the citizens. The building was far better guarded than the rest of the city, despite its dilapidated state, and she could even see weaponry being used to fortify the place.

She could hear sounds of life from within the huge warehouse and knew, almost instinctively, that this must be central command. She nodded with something akin to admiration as she realised that whoever was in charge was starting from the centre inwards, something that she would have done had she been in their place.

With quick hand gestures she told her partner that she'd head up towards the roof and veer left, Alec and Dek would go through the ground level and Aiden would slink in via the balcony.

Max hurtled towards the roof at breakneck speed, sliding through the air and landing on the roof with feline grace. She managed to duck between two guards as they passed and they didn't even notice the faint creak as Max eased her way in through the roof tiles.

She dropped onto the dirty floor and grimaced at the state of the place. Obviously health and hygiene weren't high on the lists of things to do and they had lived in some truly disgusting conditions whilst on missions, but the cat part of her still hated the dirt and wanted nothing more than to give herself a bath.

She hid in the shadows at the back and watched the bustling activity below. A tall lizard-man, with what looked like a cigar hanging from his mouth, issued orders and generally intimidated people.

2_IC_, she thought in approval as she glanced around at the compliance to his orders. He may not have been the conventional choice but it seemed like people obeyed the lizard-man's words, which was what was wanted in a 2IC.

Max let her eyes wander over the crowds, taking in with precise detail everything that was going on in the hive. An albino male with icy blue eyes was poking something electrical whilst a trench-digger joked at his side. Another anomaly with a monocle was sitting at a console screen, surrounded by half functioning VCR materials and listening to an African transgenic wave her arms on abandon.

The lizard-man growled something intelligible at one of the workers and then turned to the balcony.

"Hey, Pixie, the boys asked if you wanna third rotation on the south western corner."

_Pixie_? Max looked up and her heart stopped as a familiar tousled head and mischievous eyes peered up over the balcony.

Pix.

"Dammit, Jay, thought you were head of security?"

The African girl turned around and scowled at him. "Hello, securing here!" She gestured to the screens. "Rome wasn't built in a day, oh illustrious leader."

Pix rolled her eyes even as Max gaped.

Pix, the leader?

Was it the janitor's day off?

When did the world go crazy and what was she doing when at the time?

Pix rolled his eyes in that familiar way and scratched the back of his head. "Manticore save me from flunkies," he sighed.

Max found herself grinning at the typical Pix gesture and felt the overwhelming urge to hug the little frown lines away from his face.

As Pix dispensed with the two workers that held clipboards and turned his attention to the latest problem, Max re-evaluated the situation.

He had always managed to make her feel better, and he seemed to shepherd people without them actually realising that he was doing it.

Maybe she was underestimating Pix; he had made it into Special Ops, hadn't he?

"Yes," he was saying, "it's great that you enjoy valuable TV time, I'm just saying that if you got your rotations in the correct order, then you wouldn't have to watch them from the screens. Basic security detail 101, people."

Max decided it was time to step out of the shadows.

"And here I thought you slept through basic training."

* * *

Grey Daze's Nirvana- I'm glad that my reasons have been accepted- Phew! My comp is a pain in the…. Renfro.

Ronda TIW- LOL, oh c'mon, that was great! Dek/Max… but no, would I do that to ya?

BlueJean452- No drama? Come on, this is me!

Iridescent Twilight- Cheers pet. I admit that I don't usually like OC with a standard issue character, but I had to do something to get Alec's ass in gear. Glad you found me!

Keekee- Sorry to keep you waiting so long.

Starrlight1- Yes it would, I admit that. The thing is she was feeling a tad guilty for having illicit smoochies! More reunions in the next chapter- I cant wait!

Tiggi- A Max/Dek standalone? Isn't it a bit pretentious to write a fic about your fic? I would love someone else to give it a go though! Alec's rage here expounded!

Chaosti- OMG, you weren't kidding, were you? The longest review I have ever had…I think. I agree with the fact that having Dek show up did wonders for her, both physically and emotionally. She needed someone that she had been close to in order to help herself back. The only person who would have been better for her would have been Pix. Yup the shark thing is true. Do research for my fics and have amassed a crazy amount of knowledge about guns that I will probably never need…I hope. Party at TC in chapter 16 Everyone invited. Deck is busy with White… in a non-slashy way. Does the flamethrower really date that far back? Wow. BTW tranny bear? Rain, thunderstorms? All of the above- enjoy!

Erak- LOL, either I'm very persuasive, or your fickle…I like to think the first one! Its great that you feel like you are watching the show again, huge compliment there.

Messymissy- how do I come up with twists and turns? Cheese before bedtime…no, actually they just seem to happen and I have no control whatsoever. Aiden's gonna be with… OH like I'm going to tell you! But it is someone we have met already (hinthint)

Caboodle- ah bless ya, more soon honest. I was just reading HP and had to take a reality break.

Nevanroy- Ah, I don't think Drew has room to throw stones anymore.

Gamegirl452- it was wrong, but needed and they have all come out, more or less intact. I would have thought girls are too intelligent to write virus' but you're right.

Kiwifruit03- he was atd mushy wasn't he? Blame it on his visit to Manticore.

BlackRose9- cheers pet, more soon.

NoAngell- Well you may have told me but I never tire of hearing it. feel free to tell me often.

Kristibella- eek! I remember a-levels, evil things, that they give you no warning and no preparation- good luck sweetheart.

Lynn-50670- Ah thanks pet, glad that you still like it!

Geminangel- Hehe Dek and Alec together- seems scary!

Toniboo- Sorry to keep you waiting so long, best on the site? You flatterer you! Big hugs.

L80bug- Alec is more like himself again, which is always cool. He has been jealous of Dek- with good reason here.

Pixie Wildfire- adore your name btw. And yes there are punches a plenty.

Ellenemi- Thank me, I write better- although I should say to thank god for my talent (especially if you stand under a tree in a thunderstorm- always good to be respectful of the big guy upstairs). The Molemaid inspired me to all sorts of things…some you wont want to know of. Regency Dark Angel! third on my list of fics to finish- Left Behind, Coming to terms, DA version of Pride and Prejudice. Alec as Mr Darcy!

Sigma1- Good, bodily harm tends to put one off writing. Yay I made things make sense between Alec and Max again, that was work and a half! Drew to appear…hummmmm, I'll think on it.

Jynx- LOL, against the religion of Dek/Drew possibly. Hm, these reviews were religious this time, I counted three alluding to God- odd that.

Elle6778- Who was sending flowers to Max? Good question- any thoughts. Why on earth would Dek send them? Yay I was believable! Kudos and cookies for me.

Suenooneus- more updates babe, enjoy this dek-alecy goodness!

Ev- Hehe, not a few chapters- nowish! See you must have a crystal ball too! Feel free to kiss ass, makes me fell better.

Athena80- Alec can be sweet when he isn't being an ass.

Aku-neko- RAFLMAO- you almost knocked over the monitor- damn I have to use that! You'll have to work on Aiden quick as he gets a girlfie soon! I hope that locking them in the room together worked as well as I think it did.

Magickal one- Hey sweetness. Good luck on finals and I hope that they went well. Let me know how you did!

Honey00- more insight into Alec works for me, as well as answers a few questions that we needed to hear the answers to. I hope to get more OC nad Sketchy in again.

Lotamoxie- mean people suck ass through a crazy straw- as my friend would say- odd saying. Yup 5 more chapters until the merge so I have a hell of a lot to do- Proposals, propositions and paranoia (guess who does what!) better get to it.

Loisen- Thank you again for those wonderful pictures for the DA month- loved them! They are up on the site. Glad that you like so much. More soon.

Silk- Hey pet, glad to see ya. I think Aiden's partner will be out of the common way and so will be a bit less predictable than others who have paired up. I'm not planning to pair them all up so you can dream to your hearts content. I took your words to heart and in the next chapter; we have a Max diatribe with her accepting her own blame. Thanks for pointing that out, it never actually occurred to me- I must be more of a feminist than I realised!

Raven- Being evil is fun… in small doses. Hope the fight scene lived up to it.

Electricgurl- I wouldn't disappoint with Alec, I do love the guy! He did need a scene to himself methinks. My sister touches my computer only to write her own fic. I wish she'd damn well delete some of her pics off it cluttering up my hard drive mutters

Sweettweety06- I have a list of people who want Aiden as their boy-toy. I'll put you on it but, like I said, he has one on its way.

Moonlite Star- Oh I love cliffhangers- you know me! I didn't mean to make you wait so long- honest.

Sarah- they did make such a sweet couple didn't they? Sure, the website is under DAdiscussionboard in yahoo groups. Love for you to join! http/groups. Superb? Ahh bless ya. I'd agree with whoever said that it took a while to get into this time around, but I do think that each chapter is getting better. At least I hope so.

XxinsanityXx- Glad you liked it, Dek and Alec- mwah hah hah.

V- Glad to hear from you and thanks for sticking with the story for so long! You ship Dek/Zan more? That is a compliment. Thank you so much.

Feenian- You may always say it but imagine how I'd feel if you stopped saying it! Do you want to volunteer for either Dek/or ben?

Portkey00- Wow, in three days? Being obsessive is fun, have you read the companion stories yet? You'll like them, honest! Nice tag btw- have you read Harry Potter and the Half-Blood prince yet?

Crimson Reality- Cheers pet, glad you love it so much.

Chicita- LOL, did you want me to update by any chance?

aa- Many thanks, pet. Hope you enjoyed this as well.

Elfie- Deep into Alec's psyche is where I want to be… or is that his pants? One way or the other I guess. Glad that Alec' reasoning's worked out so well, I was worried that it wouldn't make sense but everyone seems to be satisfied with it. so that's good.

X5-454- Hey, thanks for joining us. Begs the question- do we like Deck or White more?

Fangedangel- sorry you got lost, I hope things are clearer now. Alec want master- not like Manticore, Like Max, Max as master. LOL. Oh my brain hurts! I wont lose my flamethrower, it's a part of the family now.

SGOU- hey pet, missed you. Did you have a good vacation/holiday./outing whatever? Loved to see what you loved, even if I did miss the usual essay (pouts at nasty I don't have a dog and I make my brother do the dishes- isn't that what brothers are for?

Havok- Why don't my transgenics shave? Oh that's because…. They have this innate fear of holding a razor near their throat…sort of a defence mechanism… yeah okay sags I don't know. mutters about smartass readers

Ladybug- Aiden needs someone to love him and hug him…other than me, obviously. Clever girl, No Dek didn't send the flowers.

Amelya- Hey pet, They scattered because she told them to go to ground. Those who didn't stay in Seattle had their reasons but mostly because they were so intent on not being caught. Once they regain equilibrium they do navigate back to Seattle- as in the case of Dek, Pix etc.

JG- I adore you for reviewing- so that equals out then.

Guesttype person- something against Dek…hmmmm. Lost in my own world there.

MOU- Ah, bless ya. They'll start trickling back in dribs and drabs, well see more in the next few chapters and in chapter 16 when the two stories come together it'll be clear. I did ask if anyone wants sneak previews and was overruled!

Lyndsay- My ability to rule? Oh I like that! Cheers pet, glad to see you again.

Kim- hard to please but worth it obviously! Dek'll undersatdn, especially when Drew comes back.

L80 bug- way overdue for an update- sorry!

X5-454- you asked, I answered, I hope that answers your question. Mwah!


	13. 12a Fear surprise

AN- With thanks to Silk for the inspiration for the MA talk at the end. Cheers pet.

Once again i'll remind people that updates will be pre-informed at my yahoo group- faythsfic where you can ask questions etc to your hearts delight. Also check out my site for pretty pictures! 56 reviews!

* * *

**Chapter 12- Fear, Surprise and Ruthless Efficiency.**

"And here I thought you slept through basic training."

Pix whirled around, his arms in fighting stance and his face blank. When he registered who it was that had spoken, his whole aura changed, from one of restrained violence to one of utmost reverence.

"Max?"

"Hey you."

Pix strode over to where she stood and stopped in front of her, looking down at her hazel eyes.

There was silence for all of thirty seconds as they came to grips with the fact that they were together again and slowly, oh, so slowly, Pix smiled.

"What kept you?" he whispered and wrapped her in his arms.

Unlike the enthusiastic welcome hugs that she had received from Dek and Aiden this was a gentle holding close, not from a friend to a friend but from a brother to a sister. It was the same kind of embrace Max could imagine giving Zack, if she ever saw him again.

Pix's arms were warm and strong and reminded her of nights spent talking in her room back in Manticore.

Pix placed a kiss on the top of her head and moved away. "Damn, girl, I think you grew like, two inches."

Max laughed and slapped his arm. "Been here long?"

Pix shrugged. "A few weeks and a lifetime. You?"

"Hanging around, making friends the way I always do."

Pix chuckled. "You have no idea how happy I am to see you."

"Yeah, I think I do." Max smiled up at him and then glanced around at the building surrounding them. "Nice place?"

"Could do with a few throw pillows, a decent coat of paint…oh and a wrecking ball and a complete new start."

It was Max's turn to laugh. "I see, and which dumbass left you in charge?"

"Probably the same person who made you, kitty."

Max turned on her heel to see the lizard-man chewing on his cigar, regarding her with barely concealed arrogance.

"I was talking to the organ grinder," Max said, "not the monkey."

There was a smatter of uneasy laughter and Pix tugged her close.

"Maxie, meet Mole; Mole meet Max."

"Charmed," he said dead-pan.

"Likewise," she replied liking this acerbic man. "It's great that you give Pix such loyalty."

"You think us freaks can't?" He chewed on his cigar and glared down at her.

"I wouldn't call you all freaks," she said sweetly, "although some, obviously, are closer than others."

Mole's eyes narrowed. "What's that supposed to mean, Princess?"

Max simply smiled and turned back to Pix who was not doing a very good job at hiding his amusement.

"I like him."

"I'm sure it'll be mutual." Pix nodded knowingly. "But hey, now you are here, you taking over?"

Max opened her mouth but was pre-empted by the Lizard man.

"You think we're going to take orders from some baby-girl?"

Pix started to tell him exactly who she was but Max held up a hand. "Don't worry, Gopher, I'm not here to take over."

"Mole not Gopher!" Mole's words were drowned out by Pix's moue of displeasure.

"Max? You're not?"

Max grabbed his arm and took him to one side. "You've earned the trust of these people. I can see that they trust and like you. I think you're doing a great job!"

Pix swallowed and blurted out what had been worrying him. "The place is a mess, Max; I have no idea what I am doing here. Security is a joke and the surveillance is the punch-line. Morale is at ground level and supply detail and munitions is basement level. Right now, I can't organise a sock-drawer let alone a city. What people need is 452; you'll boost morale, just being here, Max."

He gestured out at the dirty faces looking in bewildered surprise at the tête à tête between their leader and this new woman. They had obviously known that Pix was with Chance and felt no little confusion over his exuberance at the arrival of this new lady.

The fact of the matter was that they looked more hopeful and curious than she could ever recall them being at Manticore and saw no reason to interfere in what was obviously a good thing.

"And that is exactly why we should keep this quiet. Why should people be better because 452 is here?"

"Because you let them out, Maxie," Pix said. "You've been elevated to almost Sainthood here. Everyone knows that 452 was the one who flipped the switches and let everyone go. No matter what people thought of the '09ers, 452 has everyone's respect, admiration and thanks. You should take over. You'd give them all hope."

Max shook her head. "What if I died? Would they lose all hope again? They need to find this within themselves, Pix. Not using me a figure-head but helping themselves. You can help them do that."

Pix considered her words and rubbed the back of his neck. She was right. If the nation based their hopes on 452—the one that had saved them before— should she fall, their despondency would be unstoppable.

Whilst back at Manticore, they had been pushed around by Trainers and had to count on those in charge for their welfare and wellbeing. They had been dependant on others for too long, been told what to say, what to think, what to wear and how to act and it was time that they started taking charge for themselves.

What they needed, really needed was to learn to count on themselves, to stand on their own two…or three feet, without a figure-head.

"Okay," he sighed, "Just…just… don't leave."

Max smiled. "I won't. I'm home."

Pix kissed the top of her head.

"You know, I can't leave you alone for a minute!"

Max winced as Alec appeared. "Hey, honey."

"Alec!" Pix reached over and pulled him into a handshake. "Dude!"

"Hey, Pix," Alec grinned and rubbed his sore arm, still feeling the effects of his fight with Dek. "Nice to see you too, pal." He swallowed. "Please tell me that you have Chance here, too."

"Would I let my girl out of my sight?" Pix beamed. "Hey, Jay, can you tell Chance to get her cute butt here for me?"

The African girl had looked slightly bemused at the new arrivals but did as her leader told her to. She sped off and Alec laughed.

"Ooh, I want a pretty girl to do my bidding."

Max rolled her eyes. "What am I? Swiss cheese?"

"Max, I can safely say that you have never done my bidding."

"Thank Manticore, you've never changed!" Pix hugged her again tightly, not wanting to let go anytime soon.

"Lookee, Dek, it appears that they have started the party without us." Aiden shook his head in mock sorrow and Dek leaned on the banister.

"I know, Aide. I mean, I really think that our boy has forgotten us."

"I doubt that's even possible," Pix said with a raised eyebrow as he released Max.

Aiden jumped up to the higher level and strode forward, grabbing Pix's arm in his and shaking it enthusiastically.

"Pix, I'm pleased as hell to see you again."

"Me too, pal," Pix said with obvious affection

Dek ignored all male restraints and pulled Pix into a bear-hug.

After his initial surprise Pix returned the enthusiastic embrace and was joined by Aiden, all three seemingly oblivious to the stares around them.

Alec leaned back on the banister and stared in bemusement at the trio. "You do realise that we have just reunited three quarters of the scariest team Manticore ever managed to create?"

Max nodded strangely pleased by this. "Yup. All we need now is B.J. and the team's complete."

Alec almost shuddered as he remembered what those four were capable of together. "I'm not sure that even Terminal City is ready for them."

Max looked up at him in agreement and noted the almost restrained look on Alec's face as he watched her.

She was inexplicably saddened by the distance but understood it.

They both knew that things were not as yet back to the way that they wanted it to be. There had been too few confessions and not enough conversation for them to be entirely comfortable with each other again, but they had hope that, in time, they would reach that level of comfort that they had before he had walked out.

Max, herself, knew that it was time that she accepted some responsibility for her own actions as well. She had fully realised that Alec was always the one to make amends whilst she had assumed innocence and blamelessness. Max knew that she, too, had done and said things that needed absolution before they could regain their footing.

Alec could tell by the look in her eyes that she was preoccupied and he wondered when he had lost the ability to be able to tell what she had been thinking, or if he ever had it in the first place.

It was a sobering thought to think that he had been fooling himself all these years and he desperately wished that he could turn the clock back to the moment that he had started to slip away from her.

He swallowed and started to say something but before the words could make it out his mouth he heard a shriek and spun on his heel.

Chance almost flew through the air and into his arms.

"Alec!" she screeched and launched herself over the banister like bad b-movie vampire.

Alec caught the brunette and hugged her so close to him that he could almost feel her bones creak.

"Hey, misfit," he muttered, his eyes closed as he savoured the sweet sensation of his adopted sister safe in his arms.

"Alec!" she choked. "Not dead!"

"Not unless you're hugging a corpse," he joked.

Her long hair trailed over his shoulder and tickled his nose but it carried the familiar scent on Chance and the intrinsic feelings of family that she had always carried with her. He rocked her back and forth like he did when they were children.

"Chance," he breathed into her neck and felt her shoulders shake.

Chance pulled away slightly to look up at him, her eyes swimming with tears. "I was so scared… and then you weren't around… and Biggs… he's not, is he?"

Alec simply put his hand on the back of her head and drew her into his arms once again, carefully shielding her tears from other as he rocked her again.

"Shh, shh," he soothed. "Biggs takes care of himself, we know this. He'll be chugging beers with Steve and Sunny. You'll see."

Pix swallowed as he watched his girl fall apart in the arms of her big brother.

He knew that he had tried his best with her and tried not to resent the ease in which she turned to Alec. He knew that sometimes there is only one person who can understand and he had no right to begrudge Chance her family when he had longed for Max and Aiden to talk to. He had no cause to feel jealousy as she held tight to Alec and shouldn't assume that she couldn't confide in him.

He stepped forward and touched Chance on the shoulder.

"Chance?"

She immediately turned and found solace in his own embrace.

Pix held her tightly and gave Alec a rueful grin. "It's been a long week."

"Try month," Max said as she leaned against Alec.

Surprised but pleased, Alec laid his arm over her shoulder and tugged her warm body close.

"Very tough," Aiden contended as he sat on the banister.

"Brutal." Dek nodded and some form of mischief had him add, "But it had its pleasures."

"I'll kill you," Alec threw over his shoulder calmly, "Don't think I won't."

"Am I missing something?" Pix asked amused.

"Yes," Aiden nodded enthusiastically and then winced as the action caused his injuries to pull, "It's been like a soap opera and I for one am glad to be out of it now."

"So says the owner of the apron," Max quipped.

"I thought we were going to keep that between us," Aiden pouted and Pix threw back his head and laughed.

"Damn, I missed you."

"What were we? Trainer trail?" Chance poked him, managing to surreptitiously wipe her tears away.

"We?" Aiden perked up. "Who's we?"

"Techie and Feen are here too," Chance said.

Dek and Aiden exchanged glances. "Techie!" They yelled and jumped off the banister.

Max shared a rolled eyed look with Chance. "Boys!"

"Let's find our erstwhile technical genius!"

"And break his things!" Dek cheered.

As they raced past both men dropped a kiss on Chance's forehead.

"Glad ta see ya, babe," Dek said and ran off, favouring his aching leg.

"They are X-series?" Mole sniffed. "I'm beginning to think we were deceived."

"It gets better," Pix smiled, feeling lighter than he had felt in months. "Just wait until you meet B.J."

Max shuddered. "Let's hope I'm elsewhere when that happens."

>>>>

Techie was sorting through his box of odds and ends. Wires of indeterminate origin and purpose twisted themselves around batteries and bits of metal creating a bizarre medley of chaos.

Techie almost whistled as his deft fingers sought the right pieces of wire needed for his current project. He could quite happily sit here forever just twiddling bits of wire and metal.

He could just as happily kill Pix for the pile of paperwork that lay on one side of his cluttered desk, becoming increasingly buried under half-finished projects.

Feen had once attempted to tidy his desk but after… gentle protest from Techie, agreed never to touch his things ever again on pain of death.

He found that he could be quite forthright when the occasion called for it, and the apparent effects on Feen were… more than satisfactory.

Of course, if only Pix knew when to leave well enough alone he could be quite content with his new life. After all it wasn't as if he needed to live in luxury. He didn't require the trappings that many people felt necessary for life. He didn't need luxurious seats or expensive paintings to make his living space nicer. In fact he barely noticed his surroundings most of the time, content to be lost in his work.

Lost deep in his wonderful creations and the—

"Techie!"

"My man!"

He sat up so quickly he almost knocked himself out on the standard lamp that adorned his desk.

"Holy sh—" he cussed and rubbed his head. "Didn't anyone ever tell you guys not to creep up on a man at work?"

"No—"

"—don't think so," they said in unison.

"However we could be—"

"—mistaken, it has been known to happen."

Techie eyed them, forcing down the rising delight at seeing two of his dearest friends again. "Tell me again why I missed you?"

Dek clapped him on the back. "Techie, my dear, of course you missed us. We are your buddies, your pals, your best friends."

"My pain in the asses," Techie said, flushing with pleasure at the accolades even as he tried to hide the emotion. He did a double take as he noted the blood and bruises on Dek's face. "You look like hell."

"Thanks." Dek beamed, splitting his lip again.

"You've been playing," Techie shook his head "I knew it was too much to hope that you'd grown up some."

"That was a given," Aiden laughed. "So you managed to find a place that caters for your latent mad meddler tendencies?"

"Mad meddler?"

"Alliteration is alms for the soul, so sayeth Aiden," he said sagely.

Techie turned to Dek. "What have you been feeding him?"

Dek shrugged, eyeing Aiden oddly. "I think the fresh air is gong to his head. I'm sure it's not healthy."

"I miss my apron," Aiden bit his lip, only just managing to keep a straight face.

"Why is it that whenever I am around you I feel that much more abstract?" Techie put down his wire in frustration. "I'm sure I was normal once upon a time."

"Don't be ridiculous, anyone who dates Feen can never be counted as sane."

"Did I hear my name?" Feen popped her head in and did a double take. "Hey!"

"Feen," Aide greeted with a smile. "We were just saying how good it would be to see you."

"We were?" Dek looked puzzled until Aiden slapped his head. "We were!"

"If I believed that I'd be dumber than dumb-ass himself," Feen pointed at Dek before shaking her head and she sashaying over to kiss Aiden's cheek.

"Is that any way to speak to your Sex Ed partner?" Dek pouted.

"The earth moved," she deadpanned, "my world rocked."

"Mine did," Techie said. "My ceiling cracked in half during the explosion."

They laughed uneasily at the casual reference to the destruction of their home.

"Dek?" Feen frowned. "What happened to your face?"

Dek opened his mouth but before he could formulate a reply Aiden beat him to it.

"Oh, blame that on mother nature."

"So how did you reprobates find TC?" Feen asked trying to forestall a war.

"The smell?" Techie shuddered. "I'd like to say you get used to it, but!"

"Nah, Max remembered something of it."

"Max is here?" Feen said with interest, "What about Alec?"

"Yup, Mein Fuhrer is here too," Dek grimaced.

"What about Drew?"

Silence reigned and Aiden winced.

Feen realised that she had just royally put her foot in her mouth.

"Shit, sorry, Dek."

"She's not here then, huh?" Dek laughed humourlessly. "Figures."

"This place is fairly new and not many know about it yet," Techie offered. "Pix is doing his best to spread the word, sending parties out to locate and assimilate but it is slow work when we were told to go to ground."

"Nothing harder to find than a transgenic who doesn't want to be found," Aiden added.

"Like a flip A wire in a hard drive system sale," Techie said.

"For example," Dek agreed, totally bewildered at Techie's words.

"There has to be some other way for us to get the message out that there is a safe house here," Aiden mused and crossed his arms across his chest. "Maybe Max has some ideas."

>>>

Max, however, was thinking of other things.

Whilst Chance and Alec were catching up, Pix had taken her into his office and was showing her all that he had done to Terminal City.

"So then I ordered a team meeting and selected departmental heads," he was saying, "Mole is my second in command."

"Good choice," Max said. "He seems to have his finger on the pulse…and is annoying enough so everyone will listen to him."

Pix grinned. "I knew the two of you would get along."

Max pretended to laugh and Pix continued. "Dix is head of surveillance."

"Dix?"

"The dude with the monocle, I swear that guy sees everything."

Max nodded.

"I made Tech the head of electronics, a fact he ain't pleased about."

"I'm surprised you got him to agree."

"Feen did that."

"Of course," Max smiled at the thought of the tenacious redhead.

"Provisions are headed by Chance and Feen who take it in turns to deal with stuff like food procurement, munitions, clothing and all that jazz. There is a pregnant X-series called Gem who deals with cooking and stuff, she tells us what we need food wise."

"Okay," Max frowned lightly.

"Luke is a trench digger, I put him in charge of Personnel, making sure who is here and who's new. He's good with people."

"Defence and offence?" Max asked.

"I'm head of defence and Jay, the African girl out there, she's head of security and Kelpy, a chameleon, is head of tactics."

"Okay," Max sat down.

"Questions, comments?" Pix enquired as he sat by her. "You know I sucked at this kind of stuff back at old M."

"You made it into Special Ops, didn't you?" Max aid distractedly as she poured over the maps.

Pix shrugged ruefully. "Yeah, although I do wonder if the Trainers at Wyoming just agreed to that to get rid of me. It wouldn't surprise me."

Max chuckled at that before turning her attention to the issue at hand. "You have a counsel of nine and four are non Xs, that's good. How are security teams and offence shaping up?"

Pix held his hands out wide. "Honestly, we haven't had enough time to get seriously organised. It seems that they come to me with every little problem, I can't seem to be on hand all the time and its driving me crazy, Max."

"I get it," Max nodded. "You don't want to install a hierarchy and the last thing you should do is alienate people." She thought for a while. "Okay, here's what we need to do now."

>

As Max got into the swing of sorting out the areas needed for organizing a nation, Alec was having a long talk with his adoptive sister.

They settled together on the console and watched as others bustled about, trying not to look curiously at the newcomer who had seemingly stolen their leader's girlfriend.

"Sorry for drowning you," Chance apologised gesturing at his wet jacket.

"Hey, I always tell pretty girls that I have waterproof shoulders."

"All girls?" Chance raised an eyebrow at him and gestured up at the office door.

"All girls save Max," he amended, "she exchanged her tear ducts for an AK4."

"Good trade," Chance muttered and bit her lip.

Anticipating what she was about to ask, Alec forestalled her. "No, I haven't seen Biggs."

Chance swore and it was Alec's turn to raise his eyebrows.

"Where did you learn words like that?"

"B.J.," she admitted. "He was always good with words."

Alec chuckled and leaned back, swinging his legs as he let his eyes wander to the closed door.

"I'm sure he's fine," he said absently, "Probably with Sunny and freaking out over being away from you for so long."

"Hmm," Chance didn't think so. She missed her brother terribly. Although he hadn't always been there for her she knew that he cared and it was something special to have someone who cared for you like that.

"So, are you and Max okay?"

"So, are you and Pix okay?" he mimicked gently.

"Totally," Chance smiled and then it faded. "Except he won't tell me when something is wrong or if something is wrong, and when I know that it is he pretends like it isn't. Oh and he has most of the girls here after him, but he doesn't even notice. He won't tell me about his day for fear it'll depress me, or let me in on his leadership details and despite knowing I'm transgenic, he still manages to treat me like I'm an ordinary."

Alec blinked at the mini tirade. "And that's your definition of 'fine', is it?"

"Yup." Chance looked ahead, lost in thought. It was obvious to Alec, who had known her since she was four, that she was more than slightly annoyed at that. He could tell by the set of her chin that she would only let Pix get away with it for so long and then she'd come up swinging. There was something undeniably Manticorian about Chance.

"Then me and Max are fine," he sighed. "We had a nasty fight, I walked out, she walked out. I came back and she was gone."

"Gone?"

"To Dek."

"Ah."

"Yeah." Alec kicked the table.

"Is he still in one piece?" Chance asked.

"Mostly," Alec pouted, "for now anyway."

Chance patted his leg. "Atta boy, who says men can't learn?"

Alec felt the overwhelming urge to poke his tongue out at her but settled for poking her in the side, causing her to giggle and almost fall off her perch.

"So we're both fine then," Chance asked and Alec nodded.

"Fine."

They looked up at the closed door again and Chance sighed. "I think he'd prefer to talk to Max than talk to me."

"Well, if it makes you feel any better," Alec said, "right now, I think Max would prefer to talk to him than to me."

"Why?" Chance demanded. "I'm intelligent, good-looking, I love him, I can sympathise. Why Max?"

"It's something that I refer to as 'Wyoming syndrome'," Alec said heavily, with just a touch of exasperation. "I swear that place is just some big old conspiracy. You can almost hear them hush as they speak about it. Everyone who comes from there is just plain weird."

He had enough of waiting for them to come out and he had a sudden urge to see Max.

"Yup," Chance agreed with his statement. "I wonder what actually happened there."

"Knowing our lot," Alec said, jumping off the console and moving to the stairs. "Probably arson and alcohol."

Chance looked after him and pouted. "Okay, _now_ I'm jealous."

Both Max and Pix looked up when Alec entered the room and Max gave him a small smile.

"Hey, you get tired waiting?"

Alec shrugged. "You guys almost done?"

Pix looked between the two of them, picking up on the odd vibes that ran through the air.

"Yeah, just about," Max, too, had picked the tension and she lay the maps down gently, as if taking meticulous care of them would, somehow, assuage the pain that lay between them.

"We should be getting back home now."

"Home?" Chance asked, walking over to Pix and placing an arm around his waist. "Why not stay here? We have plenty of room."

"Here?" Alec gave her a dark look.

"Why not?" Max jumped in. "I could do with going over some more of these plans with Pix and get an early start tomorrow."

"Tomorrow? What about your job?"

Max snorted, "Oh please, tell Normal I was with you and he'll fall over himself to help out."

Alec hid a grin at that and ducked his head. "Okay, then."

"Normal?"

"Misnomer," Max pointed out, "apparently he has this thing for Alec."

"Yeah?" Pix gave a hint of his old mischievous smile and Alec suddenly felt that old unease that came whenever they found themselves running afoul of Pix.

"In the meantime," Chance interrupted knowing that that smile meant a world of teasing for her friend. "Why don't I find you guys a room. Together right?"

Max and Alec exchanged glances.

"Why not."

>>>>>>

The light that filtered through the broken window was as dirty as the pane that framed it.

That kind of ambience did nothing for the general atmosphere of the place and even less for the attitudes of those unlucky enough to stay in the small room.

Max, who wasn't the cheeriest person to start of with, was well on her way to being thoroughly depressed.

Not only did she have to put up with this room, now she had to deal with Alec wanting to talk about things.

"Max?"

"Nice rooms," she said soberly, heading him off as she stood by the window looking out at the faint drizzle that was starting to coat everything.

She didn't want to have this conversation but knew that it was inevitable.

It was the first time that they had been alone since Max had taken him to Aiden and Dek and their relationship was still reeling from the unexpected blows of past weeks. The fact that Alec had acknowledged his role in their drifting apart made things somewhat easier but there was still much to discuss, such as why he had never really seen her or why she had let it get to the point that it did.

Max had the feeling that there was much soul-searching and emotions to be expressed here and felt the uncomfortable sensation that always accompanied exposing her feelings to others, it was part distaste and part fear of rejection.

Alec looked around in disgust, the dust was so thick in some places that it took on the appearance of a blanket; a big grey melancholy blanket sucking the joy out of the room.

But, then again, maybe he was biased.

He shoved his hands into his pockets and looked at Max's back.

"Yeah, it's a great room."

Max nodded fixing her eyes on the distant Space Needle.

"Made better by the company," he muttered and she stiffened.

"No one's making you stay here, Alec."

Alec swallowed and cursed himself for his thoughtless words. He moved over and placed his hands on her shoulders.

"Didn't mean that."

Max sighed, trying her best not to jump to conclusions. "I know. I just wilfully misunderstand you, right?"

"I'm trying," he bit out and went to move his hands away.

Max grabbed hold and wouldn't let go. Alec blinked in surprise at this move but didn't pull, instead allowing her to tug him closer still.

"Love sucks," Max breathed and after hearing Alec's chuckle added, "I… I'm sorry."

Alec froze; a punch of emotion to the heart. "Say what?"

"I'm sorry, Alec. I never—" she sighed, "—never really said it to you before. I always let you take the flack or whatever goes wrong in our little drama."

Alec blinked.

"But the truth is, I guess, there are two of us here and it takes more than one to screw things up as spectacularly as we have."

Alec said nothing.

"You said that you never really saw me— you know after the whole Psy-Ops thing— that you wanted me because I could… I don't know, rule you, I guess. I never challenged you on that," she said despondently, "I should have, when I saw it first but I didn't."

His voice was almost a whisper, knowing that he was on the cusp of something so very essential here. "Why not?"

Max smiled sadly. "I have been so used to taking care of myself. Ever since Zack first told us to leave, I only had myself to rely on. The very idea of letting someone else in; letting someone else know who I was…who I am; what I've been through or how I feel, is anathema. Even you. You never tried to get in and I was… content never to let you."

Alec nodded. He had always sensed some kind of reserve within Max; he knew that there were things that she had never told him about her life, things that he had never really pushed hard to find out, especially not after the Rachel incident.

He had been too content with having her in his life to question why she was there. But now he wanted to know, he wanted to find out how she had become the woman she was now.

"I love you, Max."

Max leaned back against him. "Promise?"

"Yeah. You know I…" he cleared his throat. "The week that we were apart?"

"Hmm?"

"During the day I was fine. I found plenty to do all day. I was so damn busy that I didn't get time to think of you. I'd like to say that it did me the world of good, but we both know that I can't lie worth shit to you. But I got through the day, talking to my friends and just…existing, ya know."

"Hmm," her tone was slightly different this time, with an edge that told him to get to the point.

"But at night… I couldn't sleep… without you, Max," he breathed, "You haunted me. I'd try to fall asleep until I was almost crazy with missing you, then I'd up and just…go. I wandered about; I think I saw most of Seattle! Just walking…walking until I was too exhausted to stand upright and I'd fall dead on my face. And I'd dream of you."

Alec held her tightly as he spilled his guts to her reflection; he knew he sounded like love-sick puppy. But that was what he was.

"I know that you don't need me, Max, I know that. I keep forgetting how damn lucky I am to even have you in my life, let alone willing to share it with me. You are so strong and… self sufficient. I always forget that you were the best of the best. Such a big heart in such a small woman," he chuckled damply and kissed her hair. "The thing is, as much as you don't need me. I need you... I need you to… live, to survive. So _stay_ with me, please. Just don't walk out on me because I don't think I could take it again. I will work so hard to prove to you that I can do this, that I want you and…if you could care even a little. I can work with that. Just…please tell me that you care. Max?"

There was a small shudder from the woman in his arms, followed by another and Alec turned her around and looked down in horror.

Max was crying.

Max, his strong angel, the one he always relied on to give him strength. She was in tears and he would have done anything to get her to stop.

"Max? Please, baby, hit me. C'mon take a swing; yell at me. Just don't… don't cry."

There was nothing to bring to his knees faster than the sight of a strong woman in tears. It was a humbling experience to know that he had the power to drive this woman to tears, like holding the destructive power of the world in his palm.

"All this time," Max managed, "I was… looking for my family and cursing the fact that you were never there to help me; you didn't want to know… but **_I_** didn't know."

"Know what?" he asked desperately trying to push the drops away from her soft cheeks.

"That you were my family. I… I love you, Alec."

His heart, broken so many times by this woman, soared and beat with a pounding rhythm so hard that his chest ached with the sweetness. She rarely said the words to him and never had she said them with such assurance and sweet sincerity. He believed her in that instance.

"I do need you and… and I'm sorry that I said I didn't. I do. I always have. I never meant to hurt you."

The release of emotion was too much for Max and she ducked her head away from him, ashamed of her weakness.

Alec tilted her chin to him, his very being hurting for her. "Don't hide from me, Maxie." He smiled his best charmer smile. "I've earned these tears."

Max reached down and grabbed his hand, holding tight even as she avoided his eyes. "You don't know how much I've regretted what I said. I always thought that you'd be there, no matter what I said because I believe, I truly believe, that you were made for me. In the weirdest Manticore way."

Alec laughed a sound that came from his battered and bruised heart.

"Genetically paired, mutually made."

Max swiped at her eyes. "I hate this love crap, but I know that I… there was so much that I always wanted to tell you and I never did." Her words became slurred as she tried to get them out fast to combat the soppiness that she had always felt was beneath her. "I wanted to tell you about the hell that was Wyoming, just so's you'd understand and I wanted to tell you about my brothers but you never asked. I wanted to explain about Lydecker and… and…"

Alec pulled her in close and tucked her under his chin. He was somewhat overwhelmed by the depth of emotion that she had unleashed. Where the hell had she hidden that all this time? Or had she always wanted to share and had never been afforded the opportunity?

He loved her more with every word and was fast realising what it was that had drawn him to her in the first place.

Max suddenly gave a watery laugh. "Shit, I hate being such a girl."

Alec grinned. "I can't say that I have had that same feeling. I like you being a girl. It'd be weird if you were a guy."

Max punched his chest but appreciated his attempt at lightening the mood. "I'm going to blame it on the time of the moon." She decided.

He eyed her. "You got wolf blood in the mix somewhere?"

Max shrugged. "Probably."

"Can't wait!" He leered and she slapped him.

"Letch!"

"No, just in love," he caught her hand and kissed her knuckles sending shooting feelings to her stomach. "We'll get through this, Maxie."

"Yeah."

He leant down to kiss her, just massaging his lips against hers and stroking the curve of her back.

"Max," he cleared his throat. "Talk to me?"

"'bout what?" she muttered, feeling comfortable in his embrace.

"Wyoming. I want to know it all."

Max was silent for a moment and then dragged him over to the bed and sat cross-legged on the edge.

It was several seconds before she looked up at him with damp eyes and sad face.

She nodded. "Okay, it all started with Jack."

The morning light was dawning when Max had finally talked herself to exhaustion and somewhere in the night they had settled themselves on the bed, wrapped around each other and just luxuriated in holding and being held.

The tension that had been so evident between them seemed to have evaporated like morning mist and they were comfortable enough to rest in each others embrace. Max's purging of the poisonous memories in a long emotion-filled diatribe had sucked her energy and she was almost as hoarse from crying as she was from talking.

Alec's face was stained with tears of understanding and pain as she had shared her hurts and showed her scars—both mental and physical. He had gained a new understanding and greater respect for the person she was and the child she had been.

His heart ached and his hands shook as he wanted to go back in time and kill every single one of those Trainers who ignored the young girl and the Unit-mates who had never seen the heart beneath the hurt. He would have happily ripped off his own arm to stop the look of utter devastation on her face as she told him of her brother Ben and his need for her—something that he had never truly understood before.

He stroked her hair in quiet contemplation as Max dropped off to sleep in his arms. She didn't even hear his whispered words dropping into the silence and settling like the dust.

"Mine, for always. I love you, Max."

_tbc..._

* * *

Random Rose- well Pix's reaction went a little something like this…

Hphotshot5- Cheers pet, glad you like!

Elle6778- It may not be new but I enjoy hearing it, darling. I think now that he has Aiden and Pix he'll be able to cope a bit better but we'll have to keep Dek company so that he doesn't go under. Ah perhaps Pix will surprise us all with this. Continue to tell me and I'll continue to write it!

Ellenemi- Oh you can so see Mole and Max hitting it off!

Iridescent Twilight- I hate cliffhangers too…honestly. Feel free to mince words.

Lotamoxie- Yes I know I took a while. I think you are one of the few that realised that Max wouldn't let Pix go now she knows what he can do. Clever chick!

Grey Daze's Nirvana- There ya go then, there's more incentive to review! Max/Dek was who I was referring to. I adore Max/ Alec so that is who this is about. Once I'm done I might write offshoots and ship fics but then again I might have had enough by then!

Angel of Darkness231- Oh cheers angel, When I finish my book I will let you know…and you can plug the publishers for me! Check out a picture of Aiden's apron at my new yahoo group- faythsfic.

Crimsonreality- cheers pet, more soon.

Shyleigh3- That we do, things are moving faster now and will pick up speed from here on out.

Toniboo- LOL, sorry that real life gets in the way of writing but if you want to support me to live at home then I'll stay glued to my comp instead of working for a living!

Pixie Wildfire- Oh wouldn't you just love to be in a room when Drew and Ben come to TC? How cool would that be? I so have a Buffy moment then when you see Max and Dek, Ben and Drew, Drew and Dek and Max and Alec "Is there anyone here who hasn't slept together?" LOL. As for threesomes…

Lyn-50670- Sigh I know. I would take classes but being evil is so much more fun! mwah ha ha ha.

Lady marauder- nice name- is that a wink at the Marauders of HP? Or are you Navy- orientated? You wanted Alec to win? Well that would be new! In charge? In a way.

XxInsanityXx- LOL, a tad possessive over Pix methinks!

Aku-neko- I've said it before and I'll say it again- PICTURES! I want to see you falling off your chair. LOL. The Aiden comment was definitely my fave, being British I adore my tea and couldn't do without it! I don't know if Coco will go to TC, I mean she's gonna get married- what do you think?

Chaosti- well your trannie bear will need a hug once I've done. It was a damn long review- I wasn't sure what to say except Damn! Now that they are all together and the banter is back I'm loving it again, my sarcasm flows much better between groups. Oh babe you HAVE to email me now I've had time to calm down over the damn book which I shall affectionately refer to as The Indescribably NOT Snape and nothing is talking you around. INSANITY-A! for short.

Ganko- I will update the second part within two weeks. So not long to wait for the real issues and messages.

Moonlite star- I'm mean, we know this. The tension, the atmosphere- we are back!

Sarah- that's fine, things are a bit quiet on there right now, feel free to make comments.

Starr light1- LOL, thank you for that. I heart your reviews. Now all things come to those who wait and I think you have waited long enough.

Ro- Cheers pet, poor Dek will have to wait a while but they'll get there.

Geminangel- Aiden ahh he really needs a girlfriend. Bless him.

Aur- I get like that too, I have to go back and re-tread all the bits that I have forgotten! No Max is going to let Pix be leader for a while.

Sigma1- LOL, someone's ina good mood, its not everyday I get offered kisses. Bodily harm yes, kisses no.

BlueAngel137- Go back, reread and enjoy! Of course I know what I am doing… ahem, I think. Trust me. looks around worriedly

Erak- No Jay isn't Jace. Jace is currently with BJ, Zan, Zack, Emma etc. Jay is an African Transgenic moulded from reviewer "Mrs" who demanded to be in the story. Ohh didn't Harry Potter make you mad? I was fuming for days!

Caboodle- What ship are you in Hp? I write Severus/Hermione.

Chicita- LOL, subtlety works…somewhere else. Okay for Ben and Jerry I would update!

Nevan- Thanks pet, Double it up this time with Part A and B so enjoy twice the nice.

Guesttypeperson- Yes me could tell the English weren't queens own. I would like to have something against Dek… but that's a different story.

Raven- Of course, I couldn't have all my explosions on one chapter now, could I? Space and pace to make my readers continue reading! The next HP is the last one. I swear if she doesn't redeem Snape, I'm hunting out my flamethrower!

Feenian- I know but little bugler cheered Pix up some, which was sweet. Alec can be an ass at times but we'll see if he does better now.

Jynx- LOL, I have cool points! I wish I'd have had them at school, but better late than never. Yeah can you imagine the carnage if Alec walked in on them! Wow pain!

Messymissy- Oh the Max/Alec/Dek triangle is fun to write as it is to read. I love it! As for Ben… wait and see.

Kim- Yes I like Harry Potter- I'm nuts actually. It happens on occasion. Were you happy with the book!

Fadingphantom- Very very lovely to hear from you, no matter how you fade any presence is appreciated.

Amelya- I'm excited too and I wrote it! Aiden is such a sweetheart, he needs a girl!

Bluejean452- I like Dek and Alec's parts as well… oh possibly not what you meant. Feel free to be mad. I know I am.

La Vito- There are so many fics where Max is the leader of TC and I think it would be nice to have someone else in charge for a moment., Pix is cool.

Keekee- cheers pet, the going gets better, trust me.

Honey00- cheers pet, glad you like. So you like cliff-hangers do you? Ahh well that's all of the good.

Ronda TIW- LOL gosh darn fun? another Buffy reference for me! The Mayor's words. Dek and Drew… yeah bout that.

EnIgMa- Hey there, glad to have you on board and enjoying the way way way long series. I swear its like a virus just getting bigger! The 09er are busy doing stuff… yeah I have no idea either, but we'll see more of them. Maybe in a side fic adjacent to Surging Forwards and then I can _really_ go crazy. LOL. HP got to me too!

Meri24- I hope this also filled expectations, having them all back together and in one place is much better. Thanks for the kudos!

Crazy- vampire- slayer- Yesyesyes more united!

Gamegirl452- And in the next part we receive a few more into the fold so look out for that.

Screwy- Welcome to the psychopathic epic that is the Left Behind series. Leave emotions at the door and proceed to mental breakdown territory. Thank you so much. Your heartfelt words are really appreciated. Its great that the story can touch people and everyone had a favourite character. For me, Its Drew and Aiden in equal parts but BJ has a special place too. I hope that you continue to love the story as I do.

Pixiedust13- Thank you so much, I adore getting reviews like this. I love Pix too and so sorry that you had to have tonsils out. I still have mine, although what good they do me is anyone's guess.

Lyndsay- Ah they say there is too much violence on t.v. I say if there is too much violence on t.v then get off and do it on the floor instead. Love Dek!

Senorita-DLH- Cheers pet, keep reviewing and ill keep writing… until I run out of things to say, and then I'll probably just talk crap. Like now.

Electricgurl- Oh go on and read the other story, if nothing else it'll take up a boring weekend. Enjoy!

L80bug- Ya gotta love the Malecy goodness.

AngelKougaeri- Thank you darling.

SGOU- I will forgive you this because I know that you were away, do it again and we shall have words! Aiden rocks, he really really does. Such a cutie-pie! Gotta love those asides, they make me giggle so in they go. I kept forgetting that they had both been injured and my beta had to remind me to add it in! LOL. They heal fast but not that fast.

Silk- the power of the reviewer is strong with you. LOL, couldn't resist. Thank you for the kudos, I am glad that the characters seem so alive for you, I know they are for me and its great that I'm able to make that come across. Read, reread and enjoy.


	14. 12b and ruthless efficiency

**…and ruthless efficiency.**

* * *

****

The morning sun was bright enough to wake the dead, and if that didn't do the job then the coffee was guaranteed to do it.

Alec grimaced in distaste as his taste buds revolted. He stared down at the grey sludge and wondered whether he had possibly been related to it once upon an ancestry.

The council had convened at an obscene time in the morning to talk over a few of the more pressing matters of Terminal City.

Headed by a grinning Pix who sat by a curiously blushing Chance, the council of Terminal City were curious as to the identity of the four people sitting to one side, two all business, one eager but distracted and one… half asleep.

Pix stood up. "Okay guys; this second general meeting of the council is to let each of us know what is going on and implement a few ideas and changes."

"Changes?" Mole glared at the four Xs. "What kind of changes?"

"The council recognises Max, Alec, Dek and Aiden as part new representatives of Terminal City."

"Oh, we do, do we?"

"Yes." Feen eyed Mole and he glared back.

"What the hell do we need new Xs for?" he snapped.

"I'd kick your ass," Dek moaned, his head leaning back against the wall. "But I'm far too stiff. So I'll give you an IOU. Memo to me: Maim you later."

Feen swept her hair back from her face ignoring Dek as she riled indignantly. "_Hello_, do you not know who they are?"

"Should I care?" Mole sniffed.

Max tried to get Feen's attention before she gave it away, but it was to no avail as the bubbly woman opened her mouth.

"452 and 494 ringing any kind of bells here?"

There was deadly silence as all heads swung to Max and Alec.

"Are you telling me that that pint sized princess over there is 452, _the_ 452?"

"Manticore's best!" Feen chirped.

"Thanks Feen," Max sighed and rubbed her neck.

"You taking over?" Jay asked in delight to Pix's consternation.

"No," Max stated categorically. "Pix is the man for the job, I much prefer to work back stage on things. Pix has my full confidence and total assistance."

"For which I am grateful!" Pix sighed, wishing that he could just hand the reigns over to Max totally.

"Max was never one for the limelight," Alec added.

"You're 494?" Gem shifted slightly and massaged her protruding belly.

"Yeah," Alec looked down at her stomach. "Uh, that's not mine… right?"

There was a shout of laughter as the unease in his voice came through and he was slapped hard on the back by Max.

"It'd better not be."

"No, this was a remnant of Renfro's sex education program."

"Well, we won't have to worry about her anymore," he said with some satisfaction.

"Why not?" Mole asked curiously.

"Max killed her."

Max's stomach clenched at the casual way he said that and she straightened her shoulders. "Well, she pissed me off."

The chameleon, Kelpy, looked at her with such adoration at that statement that she blushed and scratched at her hand. "Okay, so Pix?"

Pix took the cue and continued. "Although Max doesn't want to lead she's coming on board as a consultant if and when needed."

"Like now?" Jay raised an eyebrow.

"Hmm, Pix was telling me that he's been having some trouble getting the word out about this place to other transgenics who might be in trouble."

"We have a team who goes out to spread the word," Jay pointed out, sitting back in her hair. "But there's only so much you can do to find people who have a degree in not being found."

"True," Dek smiled at her causing her to blush a little.

Aiden shook his head wondering at the effect that his friend had on women, and totally missed the speculative look that Gem gave his butt as he bent over to pick up some fallen papers.

"Plus, we have to remember our friend, Ames White," Max added. "The last thing we need is that ass making a comeback."

"I was wondering if we need some kind of failsafe," Aiden said. "I mean when me and Dek fought the arrogant ass he was strong, if not stronger, faster and better… than Dek."

"Hey!"

Aiden ignored Dek's indignant outburst. "What if he managed to slide his way in here? If, as Pix said Anna told him, he has as big a hate for us as we do him, then if he gets someone to infiltrate we could be in a world of hurt."

Max nodded, telling them that she, too, had considered that aspect of things. "All due respect to the job that you guys have managed to do," she nodded to Dix and Jay, "But Terminal City isn't exactly the safest place as yet."

"We've only just started up here," Mole reminded them, his hand going to his pocket for his cigar lighter.

Gem slapped at his hand. "No smoking around the chronically pregnant and the terminally annoyed!"

"Harpy," he snarled.

"Gecko!" she replied.

"Children?" Pix said sweetly. "I don't have enough valium in stock to be dealing with you two this early. We'll recess for a smoke break once this is sorted out, okay?"

Max muffled a laugh and continued on through Mole's grunts of annoyance. "I was wondering, like Aiden, if we should have a first drop."

"Not familiar with the term," Jay admitted.

"It's a standard deployment, whereas a unit has a point of contact to assuage identity before allowing potential enemies access to the stronghold."

Everyone looked at Luke who shrugged in embarrassment. "So I take a break from trench work to read the books."

Max grinned. "Luke is right."

"You mean that was in English?" Dek frowned. "Three syllables or less please."

"How the hell did you ever get into Spec Ops?" Alec asked in bemused exasperation.

"My charm, apparently I work wonders with the ladies." Dek waggled his eyebrows.

Alec scoffed. "Yeah."

Dek just smiled enigmatically. "Isn't that right, Max?"

Max ducked her head, fighting the blush that threatened and everyone found somewhere else to look as Alec glared murderously at the unrepentant Dek.

"What Luke was saying is that we send the Xs to a holding place where we can verify that they _are_ transgenics before allowing them the location of Terminal City," Aiden said cheerfully into the silence.

"Like where?" Dix asked, interested in this part of things. He adjusted his monocle and peered at Max who chewed her lip.

"Somewhere out of the way, easy to get to that we can pass along in code that only Manticore… Manticore!" She said with a flash of inspiration.

"Say what!"

Max leaned forward, bracing her hands on her knees. "Think about it. Manticore is abandoned, as far as we know."

"It is," Alec said shortly.

Max gave him a curious look but continued. "It's a place we all know and can get to. We can station one person in there that people report to and they can hand over a… token of some sort so that when the transgenic makes their way to Terminal City we know that they have been verified by our intermediary. That way we minimise the threat to security and have some way of tracking who we have here."

There was silence as they all thought over that.

"Okay," Luke said slowly, "but uh, how are you gonna get the message out? I mean our teams are doing their best but we just can't find everyone."

Max sat back. "No idea. Anyone?"

"We could sky- write it," Pix said with a hint of his own grin.

"Or place it on billboards," Aiden agreed with a laugh.

"No, no, write it on the side of cattle!" Dek clapped his hands. "Symbolic and yet, unusual."

"Excuse me," Max said, "I thought I had brought Spec Ops not kindergarteners."

"Pah!" Aiden waved his hand.

"I go with sky-writing." Chance said with a smile.

"Please don't encourage them," Max begged despite the smile on her face.

Dek chuckled. "We could have cats and dogs deliver it with those little collar things."

"Like St Bernard dogs!" Aiden added with glee.

"How about I put a collar on you?" Max sassed.

"Oh, baby, not in front of Alec," Dek leered waggling his eyebrows.

"I have no qualms about killing you," Alec snapped as he pulled Max onto his lap. "Dismemberment is just one of my many skills."

"Quit it!" Max was adamant this time. There was something, if only she could think.

Out of the corner of her vision she could see Aiden pulling puppy eyes and Dek mimicking a baying hound. She reached out with one hand and slapped them both upsides the head.

"Jeez, Max!" Aiden said rubbing his head. "I swear you have eyes in the back of your head!"

"Only eyes?" Dek questioned as he massaged his own aching cranium.

"Eyes?" Max frowned and suddenly her own beautiful brown orbs opened wide. "Eyes!" she slapped the table. "Dammit, you guys are pure Manticore-blessed geniuses!"

Aiden looked dubiously at Max. "We are?"

"They are?" Feen was openly doubtful.

"Yes!" Max punched the air in triumph.

"I knew that," Dek leaned back smugly.

"What for?" Chance wanted to know as she played with the buttons on Pix's shirt.

"For giving us the answer. Eyes. Eyes only." Max's face spread into a large grin. "I'm going to pay an old friend a long overdue visit."

>>>>

Of course, it was quite a stretch to say that Eyes Only had been a friend of Max's. In point of fact, she held quite vicious feelings towards him after he attempted to wine, dine and bed her and Tara at the same time.

Tara had been sent undercover to find out if he had any ties to Eyes Only and had disappeared without a word for weeks. Max was eventually sent in as a genetic specialist assigned to do a series of interviews with Cale to find out what was happening. What was happening was that Logan Cale was Eyes Only and Tara was fearful of her newfound relationship with Carrot if she were assigned to seduce Cale.

Cale had been only too happy to acquiesce until Max had arrived and diverted his attention somewhat.

Therefore it was with no trepidation and much annoyance that she found herself on the penthouse doorstep of Logan Cale at a ridiculous time in the afternoon.

"Are you sure we aren't wasting our time?" Alec stage-whispered as she knocked loudly on the door.

"Probably not," Max said. "He's an arrogant ass with all the social skills of a diseased leper but he has an ego the size of Lydecker's head. He'll be flattered that we want to use him."

"Okay," Alec shrugged and gave a faint grin as he heard the squeak of wheels coming towards the door. "He needs oiling."

The door creaked open and Alec looked down into the upturned face of Logan Cale.

His unshaved beard was verging just on this side of bohemian without falling into "wild-man of Borneo". His eyes were hidden by thick rimmed glasses and his blonde hair stuck up with abandon.

_This was Eyes Only? _Alec was not impressed, to say the least.

"Amy? Amy Glasser?" Logan blinked as he recognised the gene spicing technician he had interviewed a little over a year ago. He had tried to further the relationship but she had seemingly vanished.

"Funny story there," Max said with a fake smile. "May I introduce my friend, Alec McDowell. Alec this is Logan Cale."

"Charmed," Alec said deadpan.

"Likewise," Logan returned equally as stoically.

"Can we come in?" Max asked and Logan wheeled himself aside so that she could enter, followed closely by Alec.

"So, to what do I owe the pleasure of this… You weren't upset by the interview I hope?" In truth, the publication time of the article went out much later than he had originally hoped it would. There was a breaking story of a possible cover up arson on a Veteran hospital not far from Seattle's sector 12.

Of course, his own pet transgenic, Carrot, had informed him that it was no vet hospital but transgenic central right here in Seattle.

Logan had been beside himself for days… until it registered that Carrot was getting somewhat annoyed— as evidenced by the crumpled enamel cups in the waste bin.

Carrot did seem to have a shortened temper these days, especially since he had inadvertently let slip to Logan that his friend, Cece, was with child.

Just think, a real opportunity to observe the birth of a second generation genetically enhanced human! The possibilities were endless, let alone the awards and funds that could be procured once his papers went out. Money that could be used to help Carrot and his friends.

Of course, Carrot wouldn't see it like that. He'd see it as proof that Logan was after Tara and he most assuredly wasn't.

He wasn't completely stupid after all. Why on earth would he form designs on a woman who could snap him in half with as much effort as it took him to open a can of beans?

Never mind the fact that her boyfriend was six foot six of pure muscle and annoyance… towards him!

He looked up at Amy Glasser and wondered why it was that some of the most beautiful women in his life had boyfriends that wouldn't look out of place in a surfer convention. This Alec was too pretty boy for his liking, and probably had as big an IQ as shoe size.

"Hey, you asleep?" Alec said and Logan blushed as he realised that he had been staring off into space.

"No, ahem. So what do I owe the pleasure?"

Max sat herself on the edge of is desk and leaned back effecting a very casual demeanour. Her hopes were not to scare him too much…yet.

"The thing is, Logan, I'm not exactly who you think I am."

"You're not a gene specialist?" Logan blinked.

"Not exactly," Max grinned.

"Amy?"

"Actually it's Max. Or X5-452, if you'd prefer," she shrugged, carefully watching him.

"X5…" his jaw dropped as realising set in. "A transgenic!"

"Two!" Alec waved his hand.

Logan raked a hand through his hair and sat back in his wheelchair. Another transgenic, he couldn't believe it! Amy Glasser, the sweet researcher was a genetically enhanced soldier from Manticore… unless there were other places that he didn't know about.

"Manticore?"

"Where else?" Max arched a brow. It wasn't as if there were hundreds of agencies capable of creating genetically engineered soldiers with animal DNA.

Logan cleared his throat. "Right."

"Can we cut to the chase?" Alec whined. "I'm bored!"

"Behave already!" Max admonished. "I was just getting to it."

"Can't we just tell him that we know he is Eyes Only and we need a favour in return for not killing his ass?"

Logan gaped at the casual reference to his demise. "Eyes Only?"

"Hello, obvious much!" Alec said and Max gave him an odd look.

He shrugged. "Buffy re-runs. Did I mention I couldn't sleep at night?"

Max's shy smile was his reward as it sent sharp shivers of joy through his stomach.

"Fascinating as this all is, what does it have to do with me?" Logan wanted to know. "I know of Eyes Only—"

Max sighed as he attempted to deny the accusation. "You know I was actually sent to find Eyes Only all those months ago along with my friend. We discovered it was you and yet we never actually turned you in for the chop. And believe me, Logan, Manticore were far more than willing to chop you… into little pieces and feed you to the basement people." She lunged forwards and placed her hands on the arms of his wheelchair, leaning into his face. "Now I cut you some slack, did you a little favour and now its time to pay up."

"That's not how a favour works," he managed to croak, somewhat less sarcastically than he had wished.

"Hail Prince of the Obvious," Alec drawled and Max suddenly went still.

"Well, how's about this then," she leaned closer and her voice went down into a tremulous hiss. "I want you dead in the worse kind of way. I have reason to believe that you were instrumental in the death of my brother Seth. If I find proof, there will be nothing— **nothing**— that you, or anyone else, can do to stop me. I will hunt you down and I will delight in removing each and every one of your extremities whilst keeping you alive through the process. I will gut you and let you watch your entrails slowly crisp to nothing before you die of extreme agony and I will smile through the whole thing. There is nothing I'd like better than to do the world the favour of removing your skid mark from its presence forever, you son of a bitch." Max reached up a hand and tapped his pale face, making him shudder in horror. "It's in your best interest to keep me happy. A happy transgenic doesn't contemplate murder to the same degree."

She stepped back, ignoring Alec's sharp look and concentrated on Logan's shaking hands.

"Now, Mr. Cale, would you like to do us a favour?"

Logan worked his throat a few times and finally just nodded quickly. Max gave a scary facsimile of a smile. "Good, show me your computers."

Logan wheeled around, his sweat-soaked hands slipping on the wheel and making his legs bang into the wall.

Alec walked over to Max. She was standing stock still staring after the shaking form of one of the most feared cyber-terrorists on the continent.

"Nice threat," Alec said softly.

Max shrugged. "It was effective."

"In the same way as an atom bomb on an ant hill."

"Overkill?" She looked up at him and then they both stared towards the room where Logan was busy unlocking the door and trying to get himself inside. "I really want him dead."

"Fine, fine," Alec held up his hands. "But when he's dead, can I go home?"

Max smiled at his whining and moved to kiss him, only pulling back when she heard another thump as Logan misjudged the distance between the coffee table and the door.

"Look at him," Alec said, "He's like a trained monkey."

"Without the training," Max sniped. "Besides I said what I felt, people are always on at me to attack."

She followed Logan as Alec stared after her puzzled.

"Uh, Max, honey, people are always on at you to _use_ tact."

"Tact is for people not witty enough to be sarcastic," Max grinned. "Besides there is a lot to be said for a good old fashioned filleting."

There was a crash from the computer room where Logan had overheard her words and they walked in to see him fumbling at the console.

"W-what did you want?"

"A transmission," Max leaned back against the door. "I need to hide a message inside an Eyes Only transmission. Morse code at a sonar level audible to dogs and transgenics. I need it trace-free and repeated every hour on the hour all day."

"So you'll need a good cover story to justify the continued coverage," Alec pointed out.

"Yes I know," Logan said exasperated. "Who's the Cyber-journalist here?" His arrogance was toned down and he blanched a little at Max's careful look.

"Yes, that would be you," Max said slowly. "Prove it."

Logan swallowed. "I have a transmission about a senator involved in Police bribery and corruption. I was holding out for more proof but I can broadcast as soon as needs be."

"Right," Max sat down by him, noting absently the way Logan tensed. "As soon as you have things up and running, I'll deliver the message."

"To attract people's attention, mention that the senator has links to Renfro enterprises and Sandoval construction. That should give transgenics a heads up that this is something to do with them," Alec added and Max gave him an approving look.

"Wow, you're smarter than you look—" Alec preened "—of course, that's not exactly hard when you look like a dumbass."

Alec sagged and Max smirked behind her hand.

"Actually," Alec cleared his throat, "that reminds me, have you had any contact with other transgenics?"

Logan froze.

"_Take your goddamn time, why don't you?" the young man said, his voice deeper and older than his years, his barely contained rage evident._

"_Why hello, Seth," Logan said. "Forgive me—from now on, I'll just sit by the door, waiting for you to stop by, unannounced."_

_"What?" He did a double take, too surprised to deny association with the man. "You're that Zack!"  
"Yeah. You got my little brother killed. We all have issues with you. But right now we have the chance to save another of our family so we put aside the fact that we all want to kill you and you help us and maybe save your own skin in the meantime, okay?"_

_"I'm not sure how I can help. I mean it's not like they'd just let me walk in and out," Logan said.  
"Or roll," the scary one – Ben— gestured to his chair with a smirk and Logan fought the urge to yell at the man.  
"You know, it's bad manners to bring up another's disability."  
"It's bad manners to send my brother to his death. Deal with it." His grin held no humour. _

_"Haven't really had time to go job hunting," Carrot snapped. "You know, what with being on the run and all."  
"I'm sure with my recommendation it would be easy to get Tara her job back."_

Had he had contact with any transgenics? He couldn't turn around without falling over the damn things! They were like buses, didn't see one for years and then poof they all came at once. In fact, he was sick of them, coming in and threatening him, rearranging his life, threatening him and eating all his pasta.

Oh and did he mention threatening him? From Seth's barely concealed rage, Zack's thinly veiled sarcasm, Ben's uninhibited psychosis and Carrot's totally transparent contempt, he was just about at his wits end.

Then along came Alec who he just knew was going to be a bigger pain in the ass than them all combined.

What was it with transgenic men that made them so damn annoying? Was he destined to be stuck around the tall, tortured brooding types? And why was it that they always got the best looking girls? Logan let his gaze slide along Max's legs and sighed.

Maybe he should start to brood some more.

"Roller boy?" Alec waved a hand in front of his face. "Should we be worried about these sudden black outs of yours?"

Logan swiped at the hand and wished to punch the face it was attached to.

"No, I know of no transgenics."

A lie. But Zack had told him in graphic terms what would happen if he ever let slip that they had been around and once they had left to find their sister, Logan was more than happy to forget that he had ever heard of them.

Carrot was another matter, but Logan was more interested in getting Max and Alec out of his apartment quickly than letting the whereabouts of his pet transgenic go free.

He cleared his throat. "I'll set up the message."

>>>>>

Pix leaned against the console with Chance tucked under one arm, watching the multitude of screens in command. They were not alone.

In fact, it seemed like every transgenic in the place was standing behind them intently watching the screen.

Max and Alec had left over two hours ago and had called not twenty minutes ago to let them know that the broadcast was ready to go live.

Aiden and Dek sat at one console blissfully unaware of the myriad of appreciative female glances from all quarters as they engaged in a thumb-war tournament. Dek's hair flopped into his face and he brushed it back with absent annoyance as Aiden twisted his fingers into dexterous positions.

Techie and Feen were seated at one of the tables that had had to be dragged up specially for this one time performance and whilst the devoted redhead watched, her technologically minded friend wrapped his hands around copper wire intent on discovering some property of the broken radio that would render it once again usable. Mole stood to her left like a devoted watch dog puffing away at his cigar ignoring Gem's disapproving glances.

The crowds of transgenics almost twitched with nervous anticipation and when the crackle of static let them know that the broadcast was incoming Pix almost believed that he could feel two hundred indrawn breaths.

The screen in front of Luke crackled to life and a pair of dark eyes amidst a sea of black, blue and red bands stared dispassionately at them.

_This is a Streaming Freedom Video bulletin. The cable hack will last exactly 60 seconds. It cannot be traced, it cannot be stopped and it is the only free voice left in the city. There are certain men who believe they can rule with impunity. Their actions, no matter how vile, are immune from consequence because they command enough cash to keep it that way. Senator Karl Willows is such a man. You've seen him, smiling at political fund-raisers, kissing your children and pretending to be an upstanding member of the community. He has ties to Renfro enterprises and Sandoval construction as well as major outlets in several Wyoming helo-cop factories. What you haven't seen is the back hand slips to Chief of Police Frederick Heisman who turns the other way whilst men are gunned down in public. He is paid to ignore and bury the deaths of five eminent scientists who refused to stop the Tylenol2 complaints coming through. This is medicine that you are feeding to your children which ages and destroys tissue, increases asthma and tuberculo5. Eyes Only will stop this, we are closing in on your operation. This message will repeat every hour upon the hour until you are stopped and the Tylenol2 is taken off the market. This must never happen again. Those responsible are on notice. Their power and privilege will not protect them. They will be held accountable. This has been a streaming freedom video bulletin...via the Eyes Only informant net. Peace...out._

There was silence in transgenic central as the message was assimilated and Luke calculated the hidden message that had audible to them all, just under the voice of Eyes Only.

"Shi-it!" Dek breathed as the screen returned to black. "Humans will be too interested in the cover story to check the odd buzz underneath."

"Nice mention of Renfro and Sandoval," Aiden added, "Let's us know we have the right broadcast."

Pix leaned over, "Can you transmit the underlying code to us all, so we know what it is that we are looking at here?"

"Sure," Dix tapped away and fed information from Luke into the computer. "Translation…now."

_Beep Beep Beeep. This is a Streaming Freedom video Bull…. Beep. This is a code 946, repeat code 946. Regroup in session. Initial congress at Tuesday 0800 location. Proceed with caution to billboard 5 and instruction will be given. Repeat, time to come home. Meet for initial congress at Tuesday 0800, billboard 5. This is a code 946. Message out._

_Beep beep beeeep._

"Sounds like an answering machine message," Mole grunted.

"A tad cryptic?" one of the anomalies frowned.

"Oh, come on, where did everyone meet Tuesday at 0800?" Dek asked.

"Tech room 610, for health check and check billboard 5 for assignation," the anomaly nodded. "So she's telling us to head to Manticore?"

"Only transgenics are gonna know where to go," Jay pointed out in her usual manner. "Even if White manages to get to the code he won't have a clue what the significance of Tuesday 0800 location means."

"And if what Max say is true, Lydecker won't know either because he was located at Wyoming and not Seattle."

"Are we covered?" Feen asked.

"Let's hope so."

Aiden clapped his hands, "So who are we sending to wait in that cold dark hellish place of memories for the trannies to come home?"

Several pairs of eyes carefully didn't look at him and Aiden sagged.

"Dammit."

>>>>>

Logan switched off the machine, tuned out the scrambler and turned to Max and Alec.

"I'll have it repeat every hour upon the hour."

Alec saluted ironically. "Appreciate that."

Max trailed her fingers along the desk and stared thoughtfully at the lack of dust on her fingers. "You told Alec that you hadn't seen any transgenic and yet you didn't seem too surprised to see us, roller-boy."

"I hide it well," he deadpanned, still lightly unnerved by her.

"Hmm," Max obviously didn't believe him and her voice emphasized that.

"You said that there were more of you in hiding, whereabouts would that be?" Logan asked innocently.

"Oh, south of 'What the hell makes you think we're telling you?'" Alec said. "That's just off 'I wasn't created yesterday.'"

Max couldn't help the grin the crossed her lips at that.

Logan cleared his throat nervously. "Well, is there any thing else I can do for you guys? Already ready to help our friendly transgenic community."

Max rolled her eyes and turned to leave, which was when the door opened abruptly.

"You know, I don't appreciate the summons," Carrot snarled as he walked in straight past them without looking. He headed into the kitchen and the two stunned transgenics could hear pots clanking and cupboards opening.

"In fact," the dismembered voice continued, "I'd _really_ like to never hear from you again. That being impossible, whilst you are such a tight-ass jumped up megalomaniac, I _respectfully_ request that you limit your directives to one an hour or, so help me God, I will learn how to set my beeper to stun," and with that Carrot materialised in the doorway holding a sandwich the size of a small encyclopaedia. "You got that, Lo—"

He trailed off as he saw them looking back at him equally stunned.

Logan switched his attention quickly between them. "Uh, Carrot, this is…uh."

"Max!" Carrot's face broke into wreathes of smiles.

"Ah, you know each other." Logan's voice proclaimed that he wasn't as happy about that as the two of them obviously were.

"Yeah, oddly enough," Alec said irately, "He's a transgenic; ya know, one of those you've never met."

"Ah." Logan went silent and watched as Max embraced Carrot with a huge hug. The red-head towered over her, every inch of his six foot six frame emphasising how tiny she was.

"Okay, we have to stop feeding you!" Alec said as he followed Max's hugs with one of his own. Carrot grinned.

"What the hell are you two doing here?"

"Needed a favour off your friend, Roller-boy," Alec pointed over his shoulder. "Who, incidentally, thinks you're forgettable."

Carrot rolled his eyes in disgust. "No friend of mine. He offered us a heads up on any known transgenics and a job for both me and Tara if I became his lap dog."

"And a place to stay!" Logan cut in, in indignation. "Rent free I may add, you also get grocery money and enough to keep your friend in comfort."

"Friend?" Max raised an eyebrow.

"Cece came with us."

"Classy!" Max sighed and ignored Alec's delighted grin.

"So you have Tara, Cece, any others?" She asked tentatively but her heart sank as Carrot shook his head.

"Other than—" he broke off "—uh, not really."

Alec frowned and followed Carrot's gaze to a fascinated Logan who was eagerly eavesdropping on the conversation.

"Ah, right." Alec walked over, a saunter in his step, and quickly grabbed the handles of the wheelchair.

"HEY!" Logan yelled as Alec spun the chair around with panache and pushed it into another room, the wheels spinning faster than Logan could stop them. They watched as the chair disappeared from sight and a crash was heard. Alec firmly slammed the door and beamed at Carrot.

"Hey!"

"Hey!" Carrot laughed. "Oh, we so missed you guys."

"Good to know," Alec nodded. "So, you were saying?"

"Oh yeah, we picked up a basement type with an excess of canine DNA, called himself Joshua."

"Joshua!" Max's face lit in the most beatific expression that both Alec and Carrot were stunned.

"Hey, how come I didn't get a smile like that?" Carrot demanded and Max leaned up to buss his cheek.

"Great, Dog-boy." Alec rolled his eyes as he remembered the huge dog-man. He had made his acquaintance when he trailed Max, suspecting that she had run away from him. Instead he had found her talking to a man the size of a small country with excessive canine features and the sweetest disposition.

"Be nice about Joshua," Max said. "Or it'll be you in the dog-house."

"Yes, ma'am," he said with a delicious smirk which had Carrot rolling his eyes at them.

"Ah, I didn't miss that!" he said in amusement. "So what favour did you ask of the wheeled-one?"

"Broadcast with locator tags in," Max explained as Alec snaffled Carrot's sandwich. "Eyes Only has helped us send the message out to reconvene."

"Excellent!" Carrot breathed. "Tara is going to be so pleased, she's been aching to see you guys. Life with Cece can get a bit…" he trailed off as if he had just thought of something funny. "Oh, you know Cece!"

"True," Alec agreed and nodded. "I grew up with her and damn she was weird at times."

"Where is the new HQ?" Carrot asked trying to ignore Alec's decimation of his lunch.

"We are sending them to Manticore first to be verified and then onto a place in mid-Seattle called Terminal City."

"Terminal Dump-heap," Alec said around a mouthful. "It's a dive!"

"It's a dive that we are to call home," Max reminded him as she snatched his sandwich and passed it back to a grateful Carrot. "It's in the middle of Seattle but everyone pretty much avoids it. Get Tara and Cece and come over, bring Joshua under cover of night."

"Yes, boss." Carrot saluted and spun on his heel, walking away smartly leaving Alec staring forlornly at his lost lunch.

"Yo, Carrot." He turned to Max's beaming grin. "It's good to see you again."

"You too," he smiled and left quickly.

Max and Alec did not linger in Logan's apartment and, apart from hoping that he had not broken anything too serious, paid no attention to the curses that emanated form the other room as they left.

Max felt the overwhelming need to burn off some tension and agreed to meet Alec back at Terminal City whilst she blew off some steam on her baby.

The sleek black machine felt good as it roared between her legs and she pushed it as hard as it would go, feeling the wind in her hair and the taste of freedom inherent in the air.

She pulled to a stop two hours later outside a dilapidated old building and pushed aside a broken board to get inside.

She had been to Original Cindy's place once or twice before when she had been without Alec and found the constant hum of noise a comfort.

She smiled at a small kid playing with a truck outside the door and knocked loudly.

"Yeah, jus' a minute!" called her friend and Max grinned.

"Special delivery for one Original Cindy!"

"Max?"

"Yeah."

"Get your ass in here, boo! Door's open."

Max pushed open the door and walked in, to the smell of hairspray. She almost chocked on the thick air.

"Damn, girl, you spray it thick," she said.

"Spray it thick, keep it slick," Original Cindy appeared in the doorway, dressed up for a night out in tight lime green lycra pants and tank top.

"Ouch, looking sharp!" Max complimented and slumped to the sofa as O.C. grinned.

"Yo Cindy, you gonna let me… Oh hey, Max."

Max blinked.

"Sketchy." She turned to O.C. and looked from the tousled hair male to her very decidedly lesbian friend. "Uh something I should know about?"

O.C. glanced at Sketchy. "His apartment is being fumigated so I said he could crash for cash."

"But I have ta clean," Sketchy sighed. "Hey, where did Monty Cora disappear off to? I didn't realise you two were tight."

"Alec is my…whatever." Max cleared her throat. "He's back home for now and we have something of a family crisis. Any chance you guys could let Normal know I won't be in for a coupla days?"

"Sure things, boo," O.C. said. "But guys and family troubles? Sounds like you got a rough couple of days coming up, suga."

Max leaned back on the sofa and thought about trying to help Pix run Terminal City at the same time as trying to organise and full scale reunion of every major transgenic as well as tracking down two megalomaniacs intent on decimating her and hers. "Tell me about it."

"Men ain't nuthin' but trouble. Make ya wanna change teams, boo?"

"Not quite, but close," Max waggled her eyebrows and laughed at Sketchy's expression.

"What's kicking?" O.C. asked as Max's face fell.

"Me and Alec had a few issues to sort through, ya know how it is." Max shrugged. "Things will get back on track soonas."

"Good, I hate ta see my boo all down and shit."

Sketchy opened his mouth to agree when the TV which had been flickering in the background suddenly lit up and a pair of eyes centred the screen.

"Hey, it's Eyes Only."

"Yay," Max yawned.

"I've seen the show," O.C. said unimpressed and Max felt a rush of affection for the woman.

"The guys at work were all dissin' on Eyes Only, sayin' that that Manticore place that burned down and let out the superfreaks was really just a V.A. hospital."

Max almost choked. "Say what now?"

"Couple of months ago he did this hack about some superfine superfreaks cruising out of the woodwork, all nuthin'," O.C. dismissed.

"No way! He's on the level!" Sketchy insisted and picked up a tabloid left on the table. "Says right here they're out there, looking to feed."

"Cable hack and news-crap." O.C. shook her head. "Now I know, fool, that you'd believe anything but I thought zombies were too much even for you."

"Not zombies. Creatures made in labs. Some look just like us; some don't. They all got barcode transmitters on the back of their necks so they can beam information about us to the main headquarters."

Max resisted the urge to raise her hand to her own barcode and placed her shaky hands on her knees.

"Wigga, you faded. News said it was some terrorist group called SW1 that burned the place down and killed a bunch of vets. Period point blank."

"Cover up!" Sketchy said.

"Cover this," O.C. grabbed the paper and slapped him upsides the head with it. "And stop reading this trash, before you ruin what's left of your brain cells."

"As entertaining as this is, I gotta bounce." Max sprung to her feet hoping that her collar was up high.

"You not coming to Crash?"

Max shook her head. "Not tonight, boo, got a little something to do."

"Yeah, his name's Monty Cora," O.C. just shook her head as Max flashed her a grin and left. "It's such a shame to waste _that_ on a male."

"She is one fine sista," Sketchy agreed.

O.C. glared at him. "You wanna scam on my girl go right ahead. But equal rights work both ways, fool, now go clean!"

>>>

When Max finally made her way into Terminal City it was growing dark and the sentries were out in force letting her know that Pix was working fast in implementing the plans that they had both decided upon.

She walked into command, nodding at the very few faces that she recognised and headed for the office. She heard a familiar crackle of laughter and opened the door to see Carrot laughing with Dek and Aiden.

Tara stood to one side and Max smiled as she came forward for a hug.

"Max!" Tara said warmly. "I have missed you."

"You too." Max had always felt warmly towards the elegant med-tech and even envied her composure and sense of style. "How have you been?"

The blonde smiled sweetly. "Better for being here. No doubt Carrot told you how beholden we were to Mr. Cale. I must admit that being so obligated was grating to our dignity."

Max nodded as she remembered with fondness Tara's odd way of speaking. She often seemed like someone from a different era and Max always found it refreshing.

"So, have you been okay?"

"We've been coping." Tara nodded. "Cece was taken off by Alec as soon as we arrived. I assume that she finished with him by now."

Max grinned. "I'm sure she'll be happy to be here in Terminal Dump-heap."

"I think she'll be more relieved than you expect to be surrounded by like minded people." Tara gestured towards Gem and Dek sitting at one side.

Aiden smirked. "If Cece finds pleasure in being near Dek then she's obviously changed more than we think."

Tara smiled secretly. "I wasn't referring to Dek. No offence."

"None taken," Dek said with obvious affection.

A voice came from the doorway. "Huh, the day Dek takes anything seriously is the day I take up the Little Miss Manticore award."

Max turned to smile welcomingly, if a tad falsely, at Cece but upon seeing her, her face dropped.

Cece placed her hands on her hips and touched her swollen stomach protectively as silenced reigned all around. "Well, say hello then."

Max stepped back in horror and gestured to her mid-section. "What the hell happened to you?"

Cece rolled her eyes. "It's called a baby."

"D-did you do it on purpose?" Max gaped.

"No." Her icy tone seemed to slap Max back into reality and she straightened, keeping her eyes on the bump mistrustfully.

"Well, that was careless," Dek managed, also staring at the belly suspiciously.

Cece's eyes narrowed at him. "So's pissing off a pregnant transgenic with overactive hormones, swollen feet and a PHD in how to kick your ass. Back off, buster, I'm not in the mood. I have intense food cravings and… and… I need to go to the bathroom. Again!" She turned around and stormed out, slamming the door behind her.

Dek stared at the door. "Well, she's still a ball of sunshine!"

"God, I hope the kid gets _his_ personality," Aiden shuddered.

"You two are so insensitive!" Gem cried and burst into tears before racing after Cece.

Max closed her eyes briefly and turned calmly to Pix, closing his gaping jaw with one finger. "First item; mothers and babies unit."

Pix nodded frantically and grabbed a scrap of paper. "Mothers and babies unit. Gotcha."

Dek leaned over and added his own slice of wisdom. "My advice? Spike the water supply with Prozac. I think we're all going to need it."

And somehow, Max couldn't bring herself to disagree.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

* * *

_Hey all. Very very sorry to say that somehow seems to be making it it's life's work to annoy writers. The rumour circling now is that writers are not allowed to post replies to reviews within the stories, or will pull all stories/membership and authors off the site. Since there is no method for allowing responses on the review page this means that the reviewer doesn't get acknowledged for his/her words._

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_Zo_

_And of course my beloved Em._


	15. 13 Unveiling the plot

**A/N- For those very smart people who realised that Logan didnt react when he saw Alecwhen he had already seen Ben, well you all deserve a chocolate cookie, go on treat yourselves. **

**Did anyone notice that I am updating faster? What do you mean no?**

**BTW the challenge for the art manip is still up- i have had no entries pouts>**

**

* * *

Chapter 13 Unveiling the plot.**

Her dreams were always full of the dead. An unsettling thing to say, but something that had been playing on her mind for some time; especially since she'd had to walk over dead friends back when Manticore burnt down. The grounds had been full of them and their wide eyes stared at her for restitution that she couldn't offer.

Max was well able to push things aside for the greater part of the day, but when it came to night time, all the things that she could and should have done seemed to crowd around her again and she felt swamped in the sort of guilt that drenched her in sweat and blood.

For someone who didn't sleep much, she found the time she did spend sleeping full of horrific nightmares that kept her springing between consciousness and wakefulness.

She often dreamt of Jack and Seth, two people that, although she hadn't seen for decades, had shaped the person that she was at heart.

She dreamed of the first man that she ever killed with her bare hands, snapped his neck like he was nothing but a twig.

She dreamt of Ben. Ben, who she'd been unable to save, and hoped that he wasn't numbered among the casualties of war.

But most of all she dreamt of Renfro; the ice-blonde bitch who had been too easily an adversary but too insignificant to be a nemesis, and yet she had died at Max's hand.

The trouble wasn't that she was bothered by her conscience; far from it. In fact, she often wondered if Manticore had bred consciences out of transgenics, like diseases and excessive body hair. The problem was that the terrors she wouldn't allow to scare her during the day sprang to full surround-sound, Technicolor nightmares once the sun had gone down.

Hence her current position of sitting in Pix's office, going through the plans that he had laid out for her to check.

For a Special Ops member, he seemed notoriously insecure.

Perhaps that was the culmination of years of thinking of himself as the joker of the facility, but to Max, he was on target on everything that he had proposed. He seemed to feel better, once she had looked over things and okayed them, though.

She had no idea why he thought that she'd be any better at this kind of thing than he was. After all, she had never run a city either and he had been in all of the classes that she had, even if he didn't listen as hard, preferring instead to ogle Chance and flick spit-balls at the Trainers. However some of it should have gone in.

Maybe.

He was perfectly capable and she had told him so, letting him see that she had every confidence in him.

That didn't mean that she wasn't prepared to look over things for him and nit-pick. God may not have been in the details but one slip was the difference between success and failure.

She leaned back on the chair and sorted through the various departments that he had set up over the past few days. The catering and supply department was one of the major ones, with runs and demands being put out all of the time. They had very few funds and Max was beginning to consider Dek's suggestion of black-market fencing.

It would add substantially to their incomings and would help to feed and clothe some of the hundreds of Xs that were coming in by the droves.

She had no idea that there were so many in Manticore, but more seemed to be arriving each day and she was increasingly uneasy as to some of the Freaks and their possible usage in the military. The Freak who could disappear at will was obvious in its usage but the one turned aquamarine was less obvious. And the one with antennae and six eyes was just baffling. How he had made his way through the streets to Terminal City was beyond her.

"Jeez, I thought Xs had to sleep sometime."

Max hadn't even heard the door open.

"And yet you, who truly need your beauty sleep, are still up." She swung around. "What gives Mole?"

"My rotation, Princess," he answered gruffly, walking into the room with his customary cloud of smoke following him. "I'm on security detail tonight."

"How sweet," Max smirked. "I know I feel safer knowing you're patrolling the grounds."

Mole glared at her and watched her fingers as they danced over figures and columns of numbers. "What ya doing? I though that was Pixie's deal."

"I'm just double checking for him," Max replied absently. "He's still a little uneasy with all the responsibilities."

"So why don't you take over for him? You were the big cheese at old M."

Max wrinkled her nose. "Big cheese at Old M? That sounds… gross."

Mole grinned around his cigar. "I know."

Max hid her own smile and rustled the papers she was looking through. "He has some good plans," she admitted. "We're getting this place on track and setting it up for everyone as a refuge."

"Yeah, real refugee camp," he dragged his finger across the tabletop and pulled it away to reveal dirt on his green scaly skin. "Planning a clean-up crew, Princess?"

"You afraid of a little dirt?" Max grinned and sat back. "Manticore made us resistant to most types of household germs and some that are not so usual. Bacterial bugs wouldn't touch you."

Mole rolled his eyes. "So says Manticore."

Max agreed. "Yeah and we know how they loved to tell the truth." Her eyes were caught by something she was reading. "Ooh look here, Pix has made a contingency on what to do if we are discovered. He has decided to elect one person to be media liaison between us and the ordinaries so that they can see we have no designs on wiping them out as a species."

"Clever man."

Max flipped the paper over. "He has a short list of people he's considering for the position."

"I knew the kid had a brain—"

"You're on it."

"—one he obviously keeps in his ass," Mole almost spat out his cigar. "What the hell is he thinking? Media liaison?"

"Maybe he thinks that you have a way with people," Max with her tongue firmly in her cheek.

Mole gave her a look that told of his patent disbelief. "I doubt that, Princess. Ordinaries are one step below on the food chain and three steps below in the chain of command. I'd prefer dogs."

"I'll put you with Joshua then," she said and regarded him. "Why the people-phobia?"

Mole shrugged. "My experiences with humans haven't exactly been warming."

Max smirked. "Hate to break it ya, Mole. But your experiences with transgenics haven't been particularly glowing either."

"There is that," Mole acknowledged. "You cross my name off that list, Princess. Or me and Bertha'll have words." He patted his rifle and Max's smirk grew larger.

"You named your gun?"

"Yeah, so?"

"That make you feel manly?"

Mole's eyes narrowed into slits. "You **_are_** a bitch, aren't you?"

"Yes, I am. And that's Ma'am Bitch to you," Max said and returned to her papers. "Don't you have work to do?"

"Yeah."

"So quit hassling me already."

Mole nodded quite content with the constraints of his relationship with the transgenic. "Sure thing, Princess. Meanwhile, maybe you should exercise your girlie girl personality and clean up."

Max narrowed her eyes. "Do I look like Cinderella to you, Gecko-boy? You want the place spick and span then you strap on an apron and tackle the grease yourself."

"Whoa, there." Mole held up his hands and backed away. "Take a pill."

Max gestured over her shoulder to the door. "Take a walk."

Mole saluted, a smirk hidden by the cigar. "Yes, Ma'am Bitch."

The door slammed shut behind him and Max found herself grinning.

In the absence of B.J. it looked like she had to make due with a substitute pain in her ass. Which was fine with her.

>>>>

Alec always enjoyed the feeling of steaming hot water pouring over him in torrents… as long as it was in a shower and not water torture. He had spent too long as a child cold and hungry for him to enjoy ice-cold showers and when he could, he exercised his right to life's luxuries.

Sadly, the shower in Terminal City gave sporadic bursts of hot water, intermingled with water of a temperature than wouldn't be out of place in the Antarctic. He had come back from visiting Chance and Feen and catching up on what had gone on their lives.

He felt pangs of guilt when he realised that he hadn't even been bothered to find them not two weeks ago. He had allowed them a passing thought in his mind but he had reasoned that they were getting along as well as he was.

Of course, he hadn't been getting along as well as he thought.

His day had rendered him uncommonly exhausted and all he wanted to do was to wash off the grime and sink into a bed with a Max-shaped pillow.

He walked out of the shower, shaking like dog, and headed to the bedroom hoping that she was finished with Pix and would be there. However, when he walked into the room and saw the unmade bed his heart sank and his spirits with it.

His hair was still wet and his t-shirt clung to his damp back, raising goose bumps on his skin from the chilled air, but he couldn't quite bring himself to crawl into the bed and huddle beneath the covers without Max. Grabbing his boots from by the bed, he tugged them on and made his way to the door, grabbing a jacket as a nod to the cooler nights.

Terminal City was bunking down for the night and, as he made his way along the grimy streets, he could hear more than one shout of "lights out" from the surrounding buildings.

Alec grinned to himself as he strolled quickly along the lamp-lit alleys, letting the brisk exercise warm him and felt the cool breeze wind through his damp hair. He entered command central and looked around for Max, nodding at Mole as he resumed his security detail.

The light was flickering in Pix's office and so he made his way up the platform and onto the balcony. The door was slightly ajar and so he leaned on the frame, watching Max as she worked away.

She sat back on a chair, her boots on the table and papers in her hand, her eyes flickering frantically over them and her finger tapping out a rhythm on the arm of the chair. He let his eyes travel up the dusty biker boots and lean, jean covered legs up to her black leather jacket and long dark hair to her shining eyes and his heart strummed in his chest as he wondered how much he could love one person without exploding.

He must have shifted in his musings and Max looked up, her eyes lighting up as she saw him.

"Hey."

"Hey," he said, pushing away from the door and walking into the room. Max leaned forward to pick up another sheaf of paper and Alec quickly jumped on the back of her chair and slid his long legs in either side of hers so that he was behind her with her back tucked against his chest.

It was the work of a moment to get comfortable with the new position and Alec wrapped his arms around her, placing his chin on top of her head.

Max smiled warmly as she snuggled back in his arms and smelled the clean, newly-washed scent of him that somehow comforted her right down to her bones.

"I thought you'd be sleeping by now."

"Hmm," Alec rubbed his cheek against her satiny soft hair and smiled. "The bed just didn't seem inviting somehow, something was missing."

Max fought the urge to blush. She'd had sex with Alec before, many times in fact, just not since their fight and she missed both it and him more than she could say.

Alec had been behaving like the perfect gentleman recently with the chastest of kisses and caresses, treating her like a lady, and maybe that was the reason for her maidenly blushes. She was suddenly determined to do something about that. She was only human… mostly human and he was delicious.

She leaned back further and rubbed herself against him, enjoying the purr she felt rumble in his chest, casting vibrations through her.

"So why did you leave me all alone in the room?" he asked, picking up her hand and playing with her fingers.

"Couldn't sleep," she admitted. "Shark DNA turns up at the most awkward of times."

"I'll buy you a ball of string," he promised and chuckled as she tried to elbow him.

"I've been thinking about this Terminal City thing."

"You wanna lead after all?" Alec was surprised at that; he knew that she trusted in Pix's abilities, even if he wasn't so sure about them himself.

It was hard to see Pix as a leader when you had this image of him placing a firecracker in the exhaust pipe of the Director's car, or setting fire to a Trainer's trousers during basic drills.

"Hell no," Max shuddered at the idea of her in charge. She had enough of taking control and being the figurehead. She knew that being C.O. of Special Ops had groomed her to take charge, but that didn't follow that she wanted the responsibility. She preferred to run things from the back-stage, to make lists and see that orders were followed without actually standing in the limelight.

"Then what?"

Her long dark hair began to tickle his arm and so he gathered it up in his hands and draped it over her back and, because the temptation it presented overwhelmed him, he began to pet it, like a silk blanket.

"Now that Aiden is comfortably established in bringing home everyone, I'm wondering if now is the time to start working out this whole White angle."

Alec thought of what they already knew as he caressed her. "Maybe, or maybe others who come in will have ideas and information for us."

"Can't put it off forever," Max said as she settled back against him and laid her head against his chest, listening to his heart pound in her ear.

"I'm sure it wouldn't kill you take a break," he soothed as he kissed her forehead. He paused in his ministrations to her hair and Max nudged at his hand like a spoiled kitten and he grinned as she almost purred under his hand.

"Hmm," Max closed her eyes for just a moment. "I have so much to do, Alec. Pix wants help in setting up T.C. I have to call Normal and quit."

Alec chuckled. "You'll enjoy that."

Max smiled sleepily. "Rota's need checking, teams need—" she yawned, her voice growing fainter, "—need organizing and setting up. Gem said there… was a problem with the kitchens and she wants to advertise for… a cookery assistant. Security… needs looking at and supplies, munitions…"

Alec waited but all he could hear was soft breathing and the gentle rise and fall of her chest as she succumbed to sleep in his arms, the gentle motion of his fingers tangled in her hair causing her to relax enough to let her defences down.

He craned his neck over to peer at her face, her long lashes resting like a kiss against her pale skin. She looked so serene in sleep and almost seemed angelic—a misnomer if ever there was one. Max was no angel.

Or, if she was, she was a dark angel; an avenging force that spun her way through people's lives making them brighten and come to life in a way that none had ever been before.

His little dark angel.

"Max?" he whispered and felt relieved when she didn't answer. Her tiny exhaled breath softened something inside him that had been crushed and splintered after their long talk the night before.

With the full disclosure of what had happened to her at Wyoming Alec had been in the very unusual position of being speechless.

He'd listened, cold all over, to her tales of torture, degradation and abandonment and he had almost shivered as she delivered it all in a voice devoid of all the tempestuous feelings he knew that she possessed.

Her blank eyes and her monotone voice had scared him, had touched him so deep that he had to reach out to touch her, to reassure himself that she was there; that his precious Max had made it through and wasn't just a figment of his imagination.

It was his touch that had broken down that barrier and let loose the floodgates of those nightmares, the constant fear of what she had done and what that might make her into.

His strong little angel shattered in his arms and the raw pain on her face had ripped his heart to shreds and he felt as exposed as he had been those many years ago on the Psy Ops table, naked and vulnerable.

He'd held her tightly in his arms as his heart shattered and splintered into a thousand pieces watching her cry, watching her bury her face into his shoulder to shield herself for just a little while.

There was nothing on earth more shattering than a strong woman's tears.

That was all she would allow and when she slipped into exhausted sleep he could not bring himself to let her go and all day his arms had ached with the emptiness that came from not having her there.

He had never known that it was possible to need someone so much, and although every soldierly impulse screamed at him that this was a weakness that couldn't—shouldn't—be tolerated, he was powerless to stop it.

And wasn't sure that he wanted to.

He laid his lips against her soft skin and let himself follow her into sleep.

>>>>>

Morning was breaking over Terminal City and, although one would like to say that it was a beautiful sight, the industrialisation and dirt grey of everything almost defied the beautiful sunrise to make it more than it was. As it was the sun was put to shame and things just looked dirtier, if not lighter.

Dek was of the same constitution as Max in that his DNA kept him up more often than not and this was one occasion, and he didn't even have Aiden to keep him company this time.

Aiden had left after the meeting yesterday for Manticore, complete with well wishes and a few bottles of Mole's home-brew, something purported to be more lethal than anything that Manticore had managed to cook up in a lab.

Dek well knew that Aiden, whilst he did not have particularly horrid memories of Seattle, his memories of Manticore in general would be keeping his friend awake at night and Dek felt that he could at least commiserate in this regard.

He sat on the rooftop of his apartment watching as the sun turned the murky dark city into a murky light city and he grinned at the idea that not even the brilliance of the sun could make Terminal City any more appealing. Of course, nowhere held appeal to him at the moment.

Basically because she wasn't here.

Raking his hand through his hair Dek wondered what Drew was doing now. Was she in pain or was she tucked up in a warm bed? Was she walking the streets or was she hard at work somewhere?

All his life she had been the one thing that he could rely on and he felt somehow lost without her.

He remembered meeting her for the first time. They had been assigned Units straight out of what he affectionately dubbed "Kinder-Manticore" and his first glimpse of her had been this small four year old with a shaved head and mocking brown eyes. She'd frowned at the whimpers that the girls in the Unit made and had adamantly demanded that they stop because they were giving her a pain in her head.

Then she'd walked over to him and told him that his shirt was on inside out and that was that; firm friends for life.

He had maintained a watchful eye on her through their young life and knew that she did the same and yet their relationship had never been that of brother and sister; unlike Max's feelings for her first Unit.

His feelings towards her matured and he often wondered what it was he held against Mets, the guy wasn't so bad after all.

Of course, it wasn't until he had seen her walk up to Mets that day in the Rec room and plant her lips on his that he had realised what he was feeling.

Pure unadulterated jealousy.

But it had been some time since he was able to come to terms with the feeling and even longer to figure out what to do about it.

As luck would have it, **just** when things had gone their way, they had been separated.

He felt a sudden hatred and satisfaction on the death of that bitch Renfro who had siphoned them off to different partners for that Sex Education fiasco. If he had been paired with Drew then they would have been able to get out together and not have been parted.

Now he had the hand-shaking, heart-breaking, fear-inspiring dread that came from not knowing if she were alive or dead.

Dek swiped his hands at his face, trying to brush away the bone tiredness that came from within. He may have flirted with Max, hell, he would even have slept with her, but his heart belonged to Drew.

He only wished that she was alive and here with him.

_Please, please, Manticore, just let her be alive._

The sun rose high and the inhabitants of Terminal City scurried to life below him, going about their daily business unaware of the heart that was broken so far above them.

>>>>>

The reconstructed cafeteria was one place that all transgenics would pass through sooner or later and this worried Max.

By the smell and look of the place she had reasoned that it was entirely possible that the viral outbreak had occurred from here. Although she didn't say anything like that to Gem or Cece because, frankly, their hormones were scarier than a platoon of Xs.

She had been sent to the kitchen by Pix to ask Gem what supplies they needed from the catering aspect and had been collared into hearing a litany of problems that could be expected if she were ever crazy enough to have children of her own.

Not that she planned on ever doing that, and was even less inclined to now.

After half an hour she had managed to get the list of supplies needed and attempted to make her way out of the kitchen, but Gem was having none of it while she had a captive audience.

"—so I watched the birthing video as Cece suggested and you know what happens once your water breaks?"

Max swallowed, horrified and wished she were back in Psy Ops. She made some non-committal answer and proclaimed that she absolutely had to go, national security was at stake and she had to go kill Pix.

Gem's eyes began to tear and Max stayed where she was with a sinking feeling that she would be trapped forever.

Give her death, give her dismemberment and she was right at home. Hand her a bomb and point her and she was ready to go.

Stick her in a room with 'girl talk' and a pregnant woman and she would be begging for mercy and ready to spill all her secrets.

She amused herself by blanking out Gem's tales of labour with vibrant images of what she was going to do to Pix and his intestines once she had removed them.

She smiled insincerely as Gem mixed up some vile white substance in a huge tureen and proclaimed it tonight's dinner.

"And that would be?"

"Gruel," Gem snapped, her hand rubbing her aching lower back. "What the hell do you think it is? It's mushroom soup."

"Oh!" Max backed away quickly wondering if now was a good time to escape, only to bump into Cece who growled at her.

"Watch where you're going, Max. Some of us have a little more weight to carry now and can't be knocked around."

"Right, right, sure." Max couldn't take her eyes off the bump that was shown beneath Cece's clothes.

"Problem?" Cece asked sweetly, her eyes narrowing.

Max shook her head quickly. "No, no problems."

"Good, JOSHUA!" Cece screeched. "I need help with this box!"

The tall dog-man raced out from where he had been hiding, covered with flour and gave Max a big grin.

"Hey, little fella."

"Hey, Josh," Max said with a smile. She and Joshua had had their little reunion with much hugging and excited speech and they had fallen back into their easy friendship even though Gem and Cece surrounded him most of the time.

The two pregnant women were easy around the huge, gentle man in a way that they weren't around other male transgenics at the moment and Joshua had taken it upon himself to be a sort of surrogate husband to the two women while they were… indisposed.

This suited everyone, or at least it seemed to, and Max was far more than willing to allow Joshua to take the part so she didn't have to pretend an interest and understanding over the mysteries of childbirth.

"I'll leave you to it," she said backing out of the kitchen before Gem could start to cry again and, taking the supply list with her, she turned abruptly and bumped into Carrot who steadied her with one hand.

"Whoa, Max, where's the fire?"

"In the kitchen, with Gem and Cece," Max shuddered. "Get me out of here."

"Why?" Carrot felt easier in teasing Max now that he had seen her again.

"Because if I have to endure one more lecture on swollen ankles and filled bladders, I'm gonna join White in his attempts to destroy the transgenics myself!"

Carrot stifled a laugh. "Okay, I'll take you away from here, but I have something to say to you, Max."

"What could that be?" She smiled up at her redheaded big brother.

"Me and Joshua had a few errands to run while we were in the outside and we found something that might be of interest in your plans."

Max was intrigued and gestured for him to follow her to command central where she had managed to procure her own office space. She cleared some of the paperwork off a chair and let him sit down.

"Spill," she said as she made herself comfortable.

"Joshua remembers the father of our nation."

"Say what?" Max blinked and then remembered conversations that she had had with Joshua back in the basements of Manticore. "You're talking about Sand man?"

"Sandeman," he corrected. "Josh managed to find his old address."

"Really?" Max was interested in this and sat on the edge of the table. "Was he there?"

"No, long gone," Carrot took a deep breath. "But he left papers and documents… and a disc journal of his whole life."

Max's shoulders dropped in disbelief. "A journal?"

Carrot nodded. "During the early twentieth century there was phase of something called "live-journalling" it was a world-wide phenomenon on the 'net. Ordinary people began cataloguing their lives; every minute detail was itinerated for prosperity. It seemed dear old Sandeman was caught by the bug and, although he didn't post live, he downloaded all his entries onto a disc. I had to hide it from Joshua before he could read it, not that he had a disc player to put it on, but just in case. I wasn't sure what it contained but didn't want Josh to see anything that could damage his opinion of his father."

"And would it?" Max was quiet.

Carrot didn't answer her for a moment and stood up to begin pacing. "I gotta tell ya, Max that most of it read like some kind of science fiction story. If I wasn't a product of a weird Sci-fi experiment myself, I wouldn't have even believed it. As is…" He took another breath.

Max reached over and grabbed his hands. "Tell me."

"Richard Sandeman was a member of some kind of cult; he calls them the snake-biters. I think it's a joke but I can't be sure." He scratched his head. "He indicated that this cult has been around for centuries in secret and that their ultimate goal was to breed the ultimate race. They have their roots in something called the Nephilim."

"Nephilim?" Max frowned. "Why is that familiar?"

"According to the research that I did, they were supposed to be the offspring of angels gone bad and human women, they had terrible strength and power and would have gone on to rule the world if not for a global flood."

Max snapped her fingers. "I remember reading about that in religious studies back in Seattle's facility. When I was on the outs with you guys before we met with Bulli again, I spent a lot of time in the library."

Carrot nodded, solemnly recalling that time. "Anyway, turns out that over the centuries they've been breeding and interbreeding to try to create this master–race. But, he wrote, in recent years, with all of the medical and technological advances, there was a faction that wanted to use these to enhance things more, whilst another—he calls them purists—wanted to keep things the way they always had. Hitler apparently was a contemporist, who wanted change and he had his own ideas of how to go about it."

Max shuddered at the pictures of the world wars that they had been showed back in History class. "Hitler was part of this cult thing?"

Carrot nodded. "The cult members always had positions of high responsibility. He talks of judges, majors, even presidents being part of this. He was interested in medicine and genetics and so became a doctor. The purists were against any use of new methods and continued to use old ones, but the old ways weren't working. There was something about miscarriages in the women that they chose to birth the babies, two in every three died. That third child was taken and reared in the ways of the cult and then, when they reached eight, Sandeman makes some mention of a test that they had to go through to ensure that they were worthy to be part of this cult. At first it's a joke to him but later on he talks about it being an antiquated abomination. By this time he had two kids. It seems that he took samples of his fellow cultists and managed to find some gene that would determine who passed the tests and who wouldn't. He worked out that basically his big old cult came down to who had this gene and who didn't. It was pure chance."

"Sheesh," Max shuddered at the thought of random genetics determining who would live and die.

"He got very disillusioned and although he seemed to keep the same ideals, he goes off on a tangent, talking of other ways to promote a master race."

"Us?" Max breathed, her eyes lighting up. Carrot smiled to see her keep up with him, but he returned to his sorry tale.

"His talents take a turn when he realises that one of his kids doesn't have this gene and will, in fact, die from the tests. His writing gets more passionate but at the same time, he sounds more like a lunatic than ever. He starts thinking of his cult as animals and that's where he got the idea."

"What?"

Carrot swallowed. "It was a random throw-away comment from one of his cultists. He called them animals when they wouldn't allow him to exclude his precious CJ from the tests. The rest of the comment was written down exactly as the man said to him; he said "If animals are what we are, then animals will rule the world." Sandeman took that to heart. There are pages of scrawled notes of the advantage of animals over humans; speed, agility, intellect, instinct. Pages and pages of insane notations and pictures of cat eyes, lion's hind legs all mixed with scrawlings of… God, Max, it scared me. The father of our nation was coming unglued. His wife was pregnant with kid number three and…"

"What?" Max whispered as he trailed off, his hand going to his mouth in horror.

"He injected her, Max, with canine DNA while she slept."

Max's jaw dropped and ice filled her veins.

Carrot slumped to a chair. "He fed her with a constant stream of some serum that he called Canine4, there is a mention of a formulae but it's lost."

"He injected his own wife? His kid?" Her voice was as full of horror as her face.

"Once she gave birth, she confronted him. She knew what he had been up to but didn't know that he had injected her with what he had been working on. Until the proof came out of her."

Max felt her world spin as she imagined the scene. His wife; so excited, like Gem and Cece, at having a child. It would be a product of love and combined lives; a perfect culmination of years of marriage and mutual love. She would be so looking forward to a baby brother for her two sons and would be giddy with joy. The hard, painful labour would zap her strength, but she would know that, at the end, it would all be worth it. Then they'd place a bundle in her tired arms.

A bundle swathed in blankets that she'd turn down gently, expecting to see a cute button nose and dark eyes. But when that soft blanket was removed she'd see an abomination with snout and fangs and she'd know… her heart would turn over and her stomach with it as she realised what her husband had done.

Max's heart broke. "Joshua!" she whispered.

Carrot swiped away a tear. "The first. He was taken away and they studied him to find out what his make-up was and how to improve on it."

A cold knot unfurled in her stomach. "He was nothing more than a guinea pig for Sandeman."

"We all were. He managed to isolate some gene in women that would produce children with the capability to hold animal DNA. His notes are full of failed attempts, of babies that came out wrong or women whose bodies rejected the animal DNA in their own and died. God, it was sick."

"Murderer."

"The Freaks and mutants are failed attempts."

Max held back the tears from her own voice as she watched them make tracks down Carrot's face. "The women? Where did he get them from?"

"Pre-pulse he frequented abortion clinics for his first attempts, before in-vitro when they could mix a perfect kid in a test tube and then inject. I think he advertised once he found out that they didn't need to be pregnant already, plus he wanted to use pure sperm."

"His?" Max didn't think she could have felt sicker.

She was wrong.

Carrot shrugged. "His, another cultists, sperm banks, he only chose the best."

"I'm flattered," she said in a dead tone.

"Post pulse it was easier, no one had any money and women were mistreated all the time. All he had to do was dangle cash and most were eager to be fed, housed and paid for their womb and offspring."

Max shook her head. "So the father of our nation was nothing more than a sadistic, insane pimp? Whoring women's bodies out for mad scientist purposes? Suddenly I feel real proud to be a transgenic."

"Yeah," Carrot gave a dry laugh but there was no humour in it.

"So, White is probably a purist, out to kill the abominations Sandeman made?"

Carrot shrugged. "Could be, he makes no mention of White anywhere in his journal. In fact, most names are hinted at or sublimated with nicknames. One woman he calls the "Harridan Hatchet"."

"Well, at least he had sense of humour," Max tried lightly but her heart was heavy with these unsettling secrets that Carrot had spilled into her lap like bombs.

Carrot sat down in the chair in front of the desk and looked up at Max. "I hated having to carry this around alone."

"Thanks for telling me." Max smiled at him, letting him know that she didn't begrudge him sharing this with her.

They were silent were a few moments, both contemplating what they had just uncovered and the ramifications it caused for them.

"Do you think this cult will be after us?"

Max nodded slowly. "If that White guy knew who and what we are and he is who we think he is, we could be in trouble. Especially if his cultists are as high in power as it seems. What I want to know is where is Sandeman?"

Carrot shrugged. "His last entry was purposely vague, full of paranoid ramblings and words that made no sense at all. He started writing in French and German and something that looked like Swahili. He lost it big time, Max."

"As much as I'd love to have a nice long talk with the father of our nation… preferably with a nice big stick and few hot pokers," Max grit her teeth. "We have other fish to fry."

"White?"

"Dek and Aiden said he was trying to capture them and when Pix and Chance met Anna they said that White was doing some kind of experiment." She whispered, almost to herself. "What is he up to?"

"He wants to clean house," Carrot said suddenly. "Obviously, there can't be two master-races; they want us out of the way so we can't interfere in their plans of world domination… and oh geez, does that sound like a Saturday morning cartoon!." He made a face and affected a deep voice. "What shall we do tonight, Sandeman? The same thing we do every night, White- take over the world!"

Max laughed at his appalled face and clutched her sides in giggles at his easy rendition of that twentieth century cartoon that Alec was addicted to. "It might sound like a bad cartoon plot to us, but they do wanna _take over the world_." The very words made her giggle harder.

Carrot frowned. "No idea why, seems far too much hassle to me."

Max sobered up. "True, just think of the paperwork."

"So what do we do about White?" Carrot asked, sitting back with his legs tucked under the table in easy relaxation.

"We'll need to convene with the others on this, something tells me it'll be a huge-ass problem soon enough."

"Why?"

"Right now, he's trying to clean house without any exposure to either us or them, but soon enough they'll get desperate enough to not care."

"You think they'll expose us?"

Max nodded. "I'm sure of it. Public exposure with the spread of fear, they won't have to worry about wiping us out, because ordinaries will do it for them."

Carrot's eyes opened wide. "Spreading fear; mob behaviour and they'll turn on us… and each other."

"What better way to become the master-race than to systematically eradicate their competition?" Max swallowed. "Once the cult decides to expose us, we are in for a world of hurt and they'll hold all the cards."

"They're in a prime position to," Carrot agreed. "Remember the roster?"

Max was already ahead of him. "For centuries they've ensured that their members are high up in positions of responsibility. Once a Major or Judge tells the populace that we spread disease or are an abomination to their human sensibilities because we have animal in us?"

"Death… annihilation."

"Genocide," Max corrected.

"So, team meeting?" Carrot examined his nails in extreme nonchalance in contrast with the dire words they were exchanging.

"Bring your own pack-up," Max smiled as she jumped off the table and held open the door.

"Cheers, Max."

She couldn't hold back a cheeky grin. "After you, Pinky."

"Hey!" he feigned irritation. "How come I don't get to be the Brain?"

She looked him up and down. "That answers that for itself."

>>>>

For all intents and purposes the woods surrounding the site formerly known as Manticore were abandoned and Lydecker was quite content to leave it that way.

His memories of the charred and decimated facility were uncomfortable at best and sketchy at worst. His interests and interference had mainly run from the site located in Wyoming, a place that he found far more to his liking in both temperature and convenience. Also the cold, bleak wilds of Wyoming worked wonders to keep away the memories of his wife that tormented him with the absence of fortifying alcohol.

No matter how he tried to tell himself that one drink was one too many and two drinks were never enough, he could still taste the sweet after-taste and craved it like some people craved drugs or excitement.

Of course, his answer had never been in a twelve-step program or a gradual cutting down, unlike those weaklings who insisted on the power of support and brotherhood. Surrounded by likeminded ones who proclaimed Alcoholism a disease.

It wasn't a disease; it was a weakness and if there was one thing that Lydecker wasn't—it was weak .He had almost been the epitome of strength, to both himself and his kids and he wasn't about to be beaten by fermented vegetables.

He gripped his hands tightly and willed away the desperate need for scotch; for brandy; for goddamn _cider_ and willed himself to think of work.

It was all the fault of Ames White after all. Ames White was the one who had him reaching for the bottle he thought he had beaten. Ames White was a manipulative, arrogant, egotistical, ambitious little shit.

If he wasn't so annoying, Lydecker could even find it in himself to admire him. As it was, he despised the very sight of the officious little man and knew that the sentiment was mutual.

It was made even worse by the whispers of suggestion that made their way through the mind of Lydecker that White wasn't exactly playing by the rules. (It also occurred to him that White wasn't playing with a full deck but that was more personal than professional.)

Acting on a hunch he had called the main base where the captured transgenics were supposed to be held. He had maintained a specific kind of radio silence, just in case some of his kids were monitoring the airwaves. Not the escapees of Seattle—those weren't his kids; weren't his concern and, really, were only his problem via delegation.

No, it was his '09ers who he knew would still be waiting and watching. He had trained them right and he had trained them well enough to instil a healthy fear and respect for him deep in their genetic make-up and knew that no matter where they were; no matter how well they were hidden; and how long they hid, they would always fear him.

Had Renfro cared even the smallest iota, then she, too, could have had her soldiers eager and willing to bend to her every whim. But she was sloppy and more eager to follow her own agenda.

Lydecker had known that her loyalties were geared more towards Sandeman than the committee and he had always been fine with that. As long as she didn't get in his way and try to usurp his authority he couldn't care less who she was screwing.

But when his authority was questioned that was when he got mad.

His cell finally beeped to show that he had reached the base.

"Lydecker here," he barked. "Code Authority delta one Manticore, password: Archimedes Sly."

He waited a beat for the line to let his code pass through and he punched a four-digit number into his cell.

"Main base command."

"Lydecker here."

"Yes, sir?"

"I want the status of the prisoners that have been sent to you."

There was a brief silence. "There have been no prisoners admitted under the care of Donald Lydecker."

His heart beat a stuccato rhythm. "What about under Ames White?"

"There is no one authorised under that name, sir."

He quit stalling. "How many prisoners of the transgenic variety have arrived within the past six weeks?"

"None, sir."

_None._

"Will that be all?"

_None_

"Sir?"

_Not one_

"Colonel Lydecker?"

"That'll be all." He shut the cell carefully and fought the urge to force his way into command centre and beat the living hell out of Ames White.

What the hell had happened to those kids? Although the laser beam had been sabotaged before they could capture many, between those who responded early and those they had managed to round up they had caught at least twenty or thirty of the younger X-series. Where were they?

He walked calmly into the base and let his eyes trail over the men still working hard to rectify the mistake made over the Seattle base.

He knew he had sent some over to the bases. He knew that they had got into the truck and that that truck had returned.

Someone, somewhere, was lying to him and he was inclined to believe that it was White.

So if White had a whole other agenda then it didn't include the safety of transgenics, and, possibly, not the safety of him either. He wouldn't put it past the committee to overrule him and place White in position to destroy the Manticore project and use him as a patsy, making him take the flack for the failure of the mission and, maybe even push him into the public eye as the figure responsible for the escape and infliction of these creatures on an unsuspecting populace.

He would be forced to resign, honourable discharge—maybe, and made the scapegoat of the whole project.

In the words of the twentieth century "screw that!"

Lydecker paused in the centre of command and looked around unknowingly portraying an icy rage that sent even the hardiest of soldiers scampering in the other direction, desperately looking for something else to do; or at least give the appearance of being busy so as not to attract his eagle eye.

Who could he trust here? Who was on his side and who was in White's pocket?

His eye fell on those two lackeys' of White's—Otto and Mendez, they seemed to dislike White as much as he did. Maybe there was opportunity there for him.

He walked over quietly and stood behind them just long enough to make them sweat and then, in a cool, calm voice said:

"You two, with me. Now."

They jumped a mile and gave each other furtive looks before following Lydecker out of command, feeling more uneasy with each glimpse of the hard gleam in the Colonel's eye.

Lydecker barely noticed their unease, so intent he was in his planning and plotting.

After all, there was more than one way to skin a cat.

He walked into the nearest room and shut and locked the door before turning to the two, now quite unnerved, men.

He let his gaze ride over them, assessing both them and their loyalties and coming up somehow pleased.

"The two of you are placed under the command of Ames White?"

"Yes sir" they replied cautiously.

"Where are your loyalties? To him?"

"Uhh," Mendez frowned. "Permission to speak freely?"

"Granted, accepted and even encouraged, son."

"My loyalties have, and always will be centred on the promotion, expansion, security and safety of my nation and government."

Otto nodded in agreement and Lydecker looked them over.

"Laudable, gentlemen. Whilst I agree on both scores, what would you say if I told you that Agent Ames White appears to have a somewhat different agenda?"

"I wouldn't be shocked," Otto said. "White has given a few… odd orders, sir."

"He does seem to have his own agenda," Mendez added dubiously.

Lydecker smiled, glad they were of one mind. "And in the interests of national security, are you willing to do what it takes to find out, exactly what agenda Agent White has?"

"Whatever it takes," said the ever-patriotic Mendez.

The smile on Lydecker's face grew larger. "Then here's what we have to do. It all involves a transgenic called 452."

* * *

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AngelKougaeri- Cheers pet!

Sigma1- I don't get tired of answering reviews and have decided to continue until tell me otherwise. I do have some Logan-issues but my therapist is steadily helping me to be a more rounded member of society… it's either that or write kids books.

Meri24- Glad I could make your day. It always makes mine when people review, so we're square there. The Ben/Drew part will be a bit of a shock.. possibly 

XxInsanityxX- Cheers pet, the reunion should be fun.

Moonlite star- I heard about it third class so I hope it's not true, I did email to ask but they haven't replied as yet so we'll have to see. I'll make some Logan-shaped amends.

Elle6778- Thank you for the praise. I have to admit that it is getting harder to keep it fresh but glad that the effort pays off. No, in my series Alec is all Max's- I have way _way_ had enough of cheating men, so my Alec is just that. Mine… I mean Max's. Zack will be having words with our resident hacker so more crazy Zack interaction. I decided to heed your words and carry on with ther reviewers answers. It's only polite.

Electricgurl- Cece's babies daddy is Harley, a burly X5 she was partnered back at old M. Ooh! So glad that you've ventured into PO territory- YES!

Crimsonreality- Cheers.

Toniboo- Hey pet, More Max/ Alec fluffiness? Okay, I'll se what I can do in the next chapter.

EminemIsCool- Your welcome pet, I do try to answer requests from readers and reviewers wink . Just remember that there are already over 40 characters here!

Kim- I know- typical males. Just the council is aware of Max being in TC right now, but news will spread. Hyped up Cece is far more psychotic than normal. Carrot and Tara have more experience with Flex and Dek teasing Alec about him and Max, so that will not have changed.

JG- Someone mentioned that they had enough of Alc always being the one in the wrong in my fics and I realised that Max really needed to accept some blame for being a bitch at times. Alec is never perfect in any of my fics… as you can tell!

Max and Ben's relationship will be some thing of a mystery to everyone until it happens. Me too!

Angel of Darkness231- Torture Logan? Hmmm, has possibilities.

Black Rose9- More Dek and White issues here, more of them in the next part- promise.

Ellenemi- Cheers pet. Max having a 9 at Logan was my fave moment of that chapter- he so needed it. Come on- who wouldn't check out Aiden's ass? I would. Yeah… about that Ben/Alec/ Logan thing…

Geminangel- I don't think she'll be very happy. She'll pull out his intestines and wear them as a hat.

Mystic Fayth- Yup Harley is the daddy. I bet that will go down well.

Ronda TIW- The Buffy references just seem to leak through! It's what comes of religiously watching a TV show for 7 years. And Logan bashing is always good.

Lotamoxie- Yes you see that is my sneraky plan. Logan recognised Ben/Alec and was far far too scared of Ben to say anything so he… okay so missed that. Sheesh, no one's perfect. Logan probably has other things on his mind.. I know I do. LOL. Anyone guesses who Gem's baby's father is is better than me. I have no idea. I do, however have a few concrete ideas for my fics—which I'm sure you'll be happy to hear.

Chicita- oh yeah OC is one smart cookie.

Ganko- I did! Yay me. Max was scary in that part wasn't she? I thought she handled that fairly well. I think they'll have more to say to him once he calms down. Sunny and Biggs in TC- how cool!

Bluejean452- Cece is very funny anyway. The gang is all coming together,

JJBP- Cheers pet, great to hear from ya.

Chaosti- Alec related to coffee- mm, smooth, deep, dark, sensual…. Talk amongst yourselves. Ahem yeah, those that don't want to be found will never be found. It's what they were trained to do! Jay is going to be my sarcasm relief while BJ is away. Feel free to have an affair with Dek, I know I have been. I know I could be nicer to Logan but seriously—where's the fun in that? I have chosen to disregard the rumor and just continue until they tell me otherwise.

Fadingphantom- Isn't Carrot delicious? And Sunny and Biggs are on their way, along with Flex and Skye etc.. oh one big reunion! I have heard nothing further so I have disregarded the rumour.

L80bug- Cheers pet, glad to amuse!

Grey Daze's Nirvana- Bulling Logan is so much fun!

SGOU- mini-review? What is the world coming to?I too hated seeing Carrot used by eyes only, but at least he got a place to live out of it all. If you remember in the series Max didn't get anything except grief and a virus. Not a fair deal. Ooh lots of questions and just to be petty I won't answer them all. Save to say that you want a longer answer you have to give me something to work with wink

Sarah- Ahh pushing around a guy in a wheelchair hours of comedy, just watch Committed… kidding!

A- Wow you've had some reading to do! Glad you caught up and are enjoying the series. Don't forget to check out my website for the pics and posts. Any suggestions feel free to make and hope that you liked this as well as I did!

Aku-neko- Well done, a kudos for getting through a chapter without grievous bodily harm! But minus points for judo injury- honestly do I need to wrap you in bubble wrap? Although then I'd get the urge to pop you. Just sneak up and Pop. Ahh well you can praise me all you like but once this series is done. It's done. No-really. POP.

Starlight Angel- Cheers pet, more soon.

Sakura- Hey there, welcome to the saga! Thank you for enjoying it so much, keep reviewing!

Salcyra- Hey there. Pix has had the same tra8ining that Max and Alec have had and he didn't have to take command in SO, so I think Max and Alec will take a break for a while.

Silk- missing trains is bad. British rail do it all the time and look what a reputation they have! As I go through it gets easier to add details that I see when I wrote them. Its like a mini movie in my head and I hope that that is the same when people read it. But I didn't wan to rehash the whole thing—take up far too much room for one thing. feedback on feedback is one of the fun parts of this.

Yodes- More soon, honest.

SGOU- YES I KNOW! big cheesy grin

Ladybug- Yes it is way past time for an update, Blame the weather.

Elfie- Nah Alec isn't the father but he wanted to tease them all back together which worked well. The security thing is a huge issue but one that they are keen to implement. Good point that babies might not be affected by the viruses and things. Transgenics don't tend to think of ordinaries needs as it doesn't really refer to them at all. I guess they are selfish in some ways. Logan isn't a good marker of the human race and Alec and Max just wanted out, after all now they have the upper hand.

Gepap- many thanks again pet, your review has helped.

Pixie Wildfire- its shocking what some people will say fro secret peeks!

Princess Incognito- You knowI adore you, I'll tell you often.

And everyone else who I have forgotten!


	16. 14 Reconnection, reunion and

**a/n- Hey all, Just spent a very cold weekend in Wales with my friends in a place called "Little Wedlock". It was nice. But I spent the whole weekend being followed around by a 5foot9 puppy dog who wouldn't leave me alone. Now I'm slightly more than annoyed at the whole male species and the male characters of chapter 15 will suffer.**

**I'm not sorry.**

****

**Don't forget the Manip Artchallenge for the last chapter. I've had no entries for the final piece of artwork. C'mon guys help out here.

* * *

**

Chapter 14 Reconnection, reunion and release

Alec was rudely awakened from his rather nice dream by someone poking him in the ribs with a sharp implement.

"Go away," he muttered and tried to roll over, only to be stopped by the arm of his chair.

Wait… Chair?

Alec opened one eye to see the amused look on Max's face.

"Gee, I hope we weren't boring you?"

Alec sat up quickly, ignoring the amused look on the faces of the others involved in their impromptu meeting scattered around the circular table in the lecture room of command centre.

"Ahem, not at all, I was just thinking on the ramifications… of the information that you…" he sighed resignedly. "Just tell me I didn't drool?"

"Only a little," Max teased.

"I thought it was fetching," Dek grinned and Feen stifled a giggle as she settled back in Techie's arms.

"Jerk." Alec sat up and gave a look of innocence. "So what did I miss?"

"We were just discussing the little bombshell that Sandeman dropped on our collective asses," Pix said and everyone was shocked to hear the anger in his usually pleasant tone.

Pix folded his arms over his chest as he had allowed the news, that he was by-product of an insane cult-dealing mad scientist with delusions of grandeur, to sink in.

Needless to say, he was feeling somewhat bitter about it; especially when you factored in all of the suffering that he had undergone whilst at Wyoming… and for what?

Not the good of mankind; not even the good of humans in general. He wasn't there to protect and serve. No, he had been a genetic mistake, engineered specifically to the mad whims of Mr. Sandeman who appeared to all intents and purposes to be a few catalysts short of a chemical reaction.

It was enough to make even the hardiest of soldiers question their place in space, time and in the universe.

To Pix, it just pissed him off.

Chance reached over and patted his hand, getting a random smile in return for her efforts.

"Sooo," Gem said casting odd looks at Pix. "What do we do with this information?"

"We," Max indicated her and Carrot, "maybe have stumbled onto White's plan in all of this. Carrot?"

"Sure," he took over. "If White is one of these cult members, that could explain his heightened strength, heightened intellect, heightened senses."

"Years of selective inbreeding," Dek nodded, "Makes sense."

"And is fun for all the family," Mole spat, rolling his cigar in his scaly fingers.

Carrot nodded and continued. "It also explains his hatred for transgenics. He sees us as a deviancy from the norm… his norm, anyway. That'll work to his advantage in the event of exposure—our exposure."

Everyone sat up. "What?"

"Think about it," Max jumped in, sitting on the corner of the table. "What would be more abhorrent to people than polluting their DNA with animals? Human history has shown a plethora of prejudice against race, social class, religion, colour- DNA is just one more step. Why expend time and energy on hunting us down, when with exposure he can have all humans turn on us?"

"Instant mob," Dek said shaking his ahead.

"Just add the media and turn to a slow genocide." Alec shuddered.

"I repeat," Gem said slowly. "What do we do?"

"I'm open to suggestion," Max said with a bright smile letting them know that she was currently clueless and less than happy about it.

Both Dek and Alec leered at her words and Max rolled her eyes. "Not _that_ kind of suggestion. You guys are sick."

Dek and Alec grinned at each other, glad that they could find humour in the situation, however inappropriate.

Max looked up as Tara slowly raised a hand. "Yeah?"

"I have a suggestion, but it's not one that you are going to like."

"Anything is better than what we have now," Max shrugged.

"In my recent employment as a PR consultant, I ascertained that one of the biggest aids in any situation is positive publicity. Even the hardiest drug addict and child-killer can be exonerated through the press detailing his tortured childhood and penchant for darning quilts."

Carrot smiled as his girl started in on her eloquent speech. Tara had always been smarter than most in her unit and when they started to take lessons she had excelled in surgery and the medical profession to such an extent that she was taken away from her unit and utilised in the field from about the age of ten. As a result of this early separation she had never really learnt to socialise or interact with others and had, at first, found Unit 8 and Special Ops to be frightening in their intensity and she had tried so hard to fit in and moderate her speech for them so that she didn't seem to be talking above them all of the time.

Thankfully, once the others had realised this they had told her that she could speak any damn way she wanted and she had returned to her eloquent and poetic form of speaking.

It had the added effect of driving Carrot's hormones into a frenzy, but he was such a gentleman that he didn't like to mention that… at least not in company.

"As loathe as I am to admit it, our best bet if White does try to besmirch us in the press is to have an advocate that the people trust and accept to put in a good word for us."

Carrot realised where she was going and slumped in his chair groaned. "Oh, shit."

"Colour me confused." Luke looked at them oddly.

"We have a well respected member of the free media, knows all about us, knows where, when, how and, to a certain extent, who we are. Why not use him?"

"Eyes Only," Max spat.

Mole kicked out at the chair. "Figures."

"He may be something of a jerk," Tara continued. "But he does 'do-good' for the general populace. He has their respect and I think he could be instrumental in our assistance."

"Despite our personal preferences, the guy has a wicked rep," Jay said quietly. "We could do worse."

"We could die," Luke filled in the silence.

"Why would he help us?" Alec asked.

"Why not?" Dek rubbed his forehead, feeling migraine coming on. "If he really stands for the helpless then he'll lap it up as being the voice of the transgenics. And we can give him what no one else can."

"A terminal case of irritation?" Pix gave a ghost of his usual smile,

"An army." They all looked at Carrot. "What he's wanted since we met him, someone to do his leg work."

"Cuz his don't work." Alec smirked.

Techie looked askance at him. "You do realise that its bad karma to disparage the differently-abled?"

"Yeah, so?"

"I'm going to hell for just knowing you."

"I realise that most of us have the attention span of a goldfish, but can we please concentrate on coming up with a plan?" Max asked snidely.

"We need emissaries to talk to Logan," Tara pointed out. "Probably me and one other…not Alec; since he seems to be incapable of not pushing him around."

"How about me and you," Max said. "We can play good cop, bad cop."

"Or sweet cop, psycho cop," Dek said with a huge grin.

Max frowned at him. "Whatever works." She sighed. "All right me and Tara will go to see Eyes Only. Pix?"

"Sure, we have to set up security detail and relief for Aiden. Housing rotas are in and supplies lists. Maybe you could ask Logan if he has some black-market contacts that we could use."

"Munitions supply," called Mole as Max and Tara got up to leave.

"Extra set of wheels," added Alec

Max slapped him upsides the head before she left.

>>>>

Logan Cale's apartment was just as it had been for many years and it was just the way that he liked it. It was well furnished with luxurious paraphernalia without being ostentatious and flashy. Logan did not flaunt the fact that he was wealthy, but neither did he hide it.

He simply bought what he liked and what he needed, regardless of cost, and that was something that Max could respect him for.

As she sat in his lounge staring enviously at the figurine of the goddess Bast and sipping hot chocolate she wondered what she would have thought of him had she met him before finding out that he had been instrumental in the death of her brother Seth.

Perhaps admiration, respect… bafflement. It looked like she would never find out and she knew that she would always feel on edge around him, her hands would itch to wrap around his neck and her feet would ache to kick him.

She sat by Tara on the leather sofa and tried not to look like she would rather murder him and wear his rib cage as a hat than share a plate of biscuits.

Logan seemed to sense the burgeoning hostility and watched her from the corner of his eye.

"So, Tara, what brings you back here again?"

"The thing is, Logan, that despite our manifold talents, what we don't possess is the ear to the public."

That caught his attention. "Beg pardon?"

"You sent Carrot on many missions for you and I'm sure that you often wondered who it was that set fire to Manticore to try to kill us."

A pause. "Ye-es."

"And who, indeed, was behind trying to recapture us and slaughter us by the boatful."

Logan cleared his throat and shifted in his seat. "Sure, I wondered that."

"Any ideas?" growled Max knowing full well that he was hiding something.

Logan looked down avoiding her eyes. "Well, Eyes Only has uncovered something of a governmental agenda."

Max blinked. That was unexpected. She had assumed that Eyes Only couldn't find his own ass with a roadmap. "Say what?"

"Manticore was actually not as well hidden as they like to believe, I mean how could it have been when billions of tax dollars had to be diverted for it to be funded? That amount of money raises flags in some quarters.

"My sources tell me that it was supported and funded by monies diverted from several arenas of public health and safety and also private investors within the US; not to mention the large dividend from the Defence budget."

"Why not," Max scoffed and sat back feeling slightly more charitable to him now that he proved he at least had half a brain.

Whether he used it was another matter.

Tara nodded. "So with the aim to make the perfect super soldier, unaware of Sandeman's other agenda, they financed the project?"

"Sandeman?" Logan perked up. "Who's he?"

Max exchanged glances with Tara and then turned back to Logan. "He's unimportant at this point. Carry on."

Logan realised that to get something, he had to give something. "From what I can gather, the technology that went into creating you was so advanced that it had to be shielded from other, less savoury countries."

"Right!" Max mocked. "Because the US of A isn't twisted enough on its own, it has to stop other mini-twisted powers from creating a human- animal hybrid to fight its wars."

"At least their psychotic tendencies are patriotic," Tara offered. Max smiled softy at that.

"Well, they picked a committee and they oversaw the secrecy of the project," Logan continued, sipping on his coffee. "After the escape of '09 the committee leaders, spearheaded by the D.O.D's own leader, Colonel Michael Hamersley, tried to scrap the whole project, for fear that the American public would balk at the huge financial and moral ethics that surrounded the training and preparation of the soldiers."

"But there was no exposure at that point," Max pointed out. "And despite the crappy attitudes of the Trainers on the escape and those who didn't quite manage it," she rolled her eyes ironically, "they didn't shut us down."

"Someone interceded on your behalf."

"Who?" Max was on the edge of her seat.

"A Colonel Donald Lydecker."

"Huh," Max sat back again. "Son of a bitch."

Logan watched her closely as she thought that out. She got up and walked over to his large penthouse windows watching the masses below go about their lives like busy little ants.

"The pulse was actually a blessing for the committee. People no longer cared about governmental expenditure and they'd be heavily in favour of anything that could protect them whilst America was vulnerable to attack. Now things are back on track people are starting to take an interest again."

_Too little, too late._

Max stared down at the bustling streets and the market place with its furious denizens battling over a fresh loaf of bread. She watched as the queue for petrol grew as long as the black and people bartered for batteries. "You think things are picking up?"

"People used to be gunned down on the street for their boots," Logan pointed out. "I'd say things have improved. Things are still corrupt but at least civilisation is making a comeback."

"With the thugs and bully-boys in command," Tara added.

"Not for long if Eyes Only has any say in it," Logan maintained earnestly. "This is what I do. People have a right not to walk the streets in fear and not to have to pay for the privilege. They were so scared after the pulse they handed the reins over to the corrupt in hopes that things would be better, they are paying for that but some of us want to take back control."

"You?"

"It's a start."

Max shook her head in cynical amusement. "An idealist with a computer and unlimited funds. Do the good people of Gotham know that their Batman works out of a penthouse?"

Logan smiled. "I prefer Spiderman."

"Got the angst down pat," she countered glancing down at his legs. "But no climbing buildings for you."

"That's where you come in." Logan stared her down ignoring the slight on his disability. "You came to me for something more than a history lesson of your project."

"You're not as dumb as you look."

Logan smiled.

"Of course, you look like retard."

His smile fell and he had enough. "That was below the belt, Max. I am offering to help out here and I would at least appreciate it if you dropped the insults. I'm not your punch bag."

Max stared at him but he sat up straighter and she felt a trickle of respect that he didn't back down.

"I tell you what," she said. "You don't get us killed and I'll stop insulting you. Deal?"

"That's fair," he agreed.

She turned back to the topic at hand. "Do you think that the committee is the one who ordered Manticore burnt?"

"Possibly," he hedged.

"You lie like you dress—badly," she winced. "Sorry, that slipped out."

"What I think has no bearing here," Logan pointed out acknowledging her apology with a smile. "I want to know why you are here specifically."

Max eyed him carefully, not trusting him at all and Tara was the one to take over.

"Logan, we are being hunted. You yourself pointed out the signal to me and Carrot, the light show in the sky. You knew that shots were fired on the bridge and someone has been looking for bar-code gangs. We know who that someone is and we think that he is going to try exposing us to public censure and attack. What we need is PR from Eyes Only."

Logan pursed his lips. "Positive publicity from a trusted non-political figure?"

"People respect Eyes Only. I've worked with humans long enough to see how they react when your name is mentioned. They see you as doing good by ridding them of the corrupt. You do good, Logan."

Logan smiled at her and Max felt a breath of relief that Tara knew ways to smooth things over and even use Logan's ego to their best advantage.

"Look at it this way," Max said cynically. "You like to help the underdog, the one who can't help himself? Well, transgenics are gonna need your help. Think of all the humanitarian brownie points this will get you."

Tara sighed. Max obviously wasn't aware when to leave well enough alone, she seemed incapable of restraining the hostility when talking to Logan.

"Max!" she cautioned and Max shut up.

"We would appreciate your help, Logan."

He nodded quietly, thinking about this. "I'm not as heartless as you think, Max," he said. "I'll help. After the… I can start to turn the tide before exposure by discrediting the one who starts it if you want? Who is the guy that's after you?"

With a half smile Tara told him all about Ames White and his attempts to get at them, she even gave him selected details about the cult that they had uncovered and saw Logan's eyes gleam with the knowledge of a new story and possible scandal that he could help discredit and destabilize.

"You do realise that once word of transgenics gets out properly you will be the story of the season and not everyone will be swayed by my reports."

"We get that," Tara said quickly before Max could make one of her scathing comments. "We appreciate any help that you can give us."

"In return…" he hesitated and glanced at Max.

"In return," she said coolly, "if you require…help with one of your Eyes Only missions we might come to some arrangement."

His eyes lit up. "Really?"

Max turned to go. "Just make us look good, okay?"

"Give me a number where I can reach you."

Tara scribbled down her cell number as Max reached the door.

Logan watched them both leave wondering why Max was so annoyed with him; surely her boyfriend had told her who was responsible for opening Manticore. After all Ben and Alec was the same person.

Wasn't he?

>>>>

Tara kept glancing at Max out of the corner of her eye, curious as to the unbridled hostility Max exhibited when with Logan even after they agreed to a cessation of hostilities.

She remembered that Max had issues with Logan back when she rescued Tara on her mission but she had never got down to the basics as to what her concerns were.

"Are you okay, Max?"

Max was silent for a while and Tara thought that she wasn't going to answer. "I was brought up to think that indiscriminate violence was just a waste of resources. I try to tell myself that extracting Logan's spine and wrapping it around his neck would be a waste of time and energy, but I can't seem to care." She smiled ruefully. "I hate him."

"Why?"

"Because I had… someone told me that he was the reason for one of my siblings' deaths and I can't forgive or forget that."

"Did you ascertain if it was true?" Tara's voice was quiet and sincere and made Max think deeply.

"N-o," she sighed. "I trusted who it was that told me the information; trusted him in that he had no reason to lie to me on that."

"Who?"

"Lydecker," Max laughed at her own naivety. "I realise that that is tantamount to trusting the devil but I saw no reason for him to fabricate that. Seth had been in the employ of Eyes Only, he died, it was as simple as that."

They reached the street and Tara had to move quickly to avoid being jostled by the crowds. "Did you ask him?"

"Lydecker?"

"Logan."

"No, what's he gonna say? Yes, Max, I killed your brother. Sorry?"

Tara looked down. "I spent a lot of time with Mr. Cale and I can tell you Max that he may be a spoiled child, an idealist with unlimited funds and enough smarts to put it into practice but he isn't a murderer. If he had anything to do with the death of your brother it was incidental. Perhaps the Colonel had his own reasons for wanting you to distrust and dislike Mr. Cale."

Max hooked her thumbs into her jeans and swept her fringe out of her face. She trusted Tara's judgement and her level headedness more than she trusted anyone else's and if Tara implied that Cale wasn't to blame for her brother's death then, he probably wasn't.

It grated.

"I want someone to blame," she confessed. "He's an easy target."

"The easy way isn't always the best way, or the right way." Tara smiled sadly. "Take it from someone who was in the field from age ten. Some times the hard way is the only way."

Max looked away into the store front of a nearby window.

It was an electronics store fronted by plasma screen TV's and mini Hi-Fi's proclaiming the latest in technological advances. Max almost smiled at the music video playing in Technicolor surround sound.

It reminded her of Alec and his attention deficit.

She was about to answer Tara, and explain why she was tired of taking the hard way, when the picture on the screens broke up to show KIPH 3 SPECIAL NEWS BULLETIN blazoned across the screen. As the tile faded the scene showed an austere man dressed in a suit behind a news desk. He frowned into the camera, furrows on his handsome face.

"_This is a Channel Three news break_." The picture spun away from him to show a bald man, as tall as Mole, pick up a police officer and throw him into a building.

He spun to grab at another man, tossing him like he was as light as a feather; he didn't even have to gasp for breath. Another cop with a police issue baton went to grab him and the man spun on his heel clearly showing a black bar-code on the back of his neck.

Max grabbed Tara's hand as they stared at the show.

"_A hoverdrone recorded this shocking footage. Authorities are refusing to comment on the nature of the assailant. But, as you can see for yourself, the attacker has what can only be described as superhuman strength."_

"This is bad. This is so, so very bad," Max said she clutched Tara's sleeve.

"_The subject, who was described by witnesses as a mutant, refused to comply with police officers on the scene. He is believed to have escaped from what is purported to be a covert government project known as Manticore."_

Tara's breath escaped her body is a hiss of disbelief. "Oh, God!"

People around them were starting to stop and watch the show and as they called more people to come and watch Max began to feel uncomfortable. They closed in around her and she flicked up her collar and pushed her hair behind her ears.

"_Authorities have denied all knowledge of Manticore, but so far no one has been able..."_

"Max," Tara hissed as someone pressed impossibly close. "We need to get out of here."

Max shook her head, unable to believe what she was seeing.

"_...obvious physical prowess. One of the officers was seriously injured before others opened fire. Some eyewitnesses claim that it took police six shots to bring down their attacker, but Channel Three can neither confirm nor deny..."_

"They shot him," she said.

"Good," said someone by her side. "Damn freaks!"

"The papers were right!" someone else said and Max could practically feel the hostility ebbing from the crowd.

"Hey, I heard they had some sort of marker to tag them."

"Yeah, listen."

"Max," Tara tugged on her sleeve. "We have to get back—Now!"

"_You can see it right there--the barcode. Unconfirmed reports suggest these tattoos were used to keep track of the various soldiers involved in the program. The mutant's body was rushed from the scene based on officials' concerns regarding a potential biohazard."_

"Max—now!"

"It's started," Max whispered before slinking back into the crowds.

"Shit, what do we do, Max?" Tara hissed as they walked down the street.

"Get the hell out of here," Max hissed back, not watching where she was going.

Tara pulled her out of the way of someone hurrying to get to the crowd of people in front of the electronics store. The streets, which were cramped before, were now stifling to the point of claustrophobic and both Max and Tara wanted out. Now.

"We need to get back to TC, once the shit hits the fan we'll have an influx. We should recall Aiden and just set up a map at Man… home base." Max realised that it wasn't a good idea to start mentioning Manticore in public anymore. Not if they wanted to remain lynch-free.

"What was that mule doing fighting like that in public?" Tara asked. "It doesn't seem logical for any Man—alumni to go off like that."

"He was cornered," Max said crisply moving faster down the street as the level of noise increased. "Hell, the cops probably started it."

"Maybe so, but—" Tara stopped mid-word as she slammed straight into someone.

"Oof!" she said as her whole body collided with a body who felt like a brick house. She stumbled back and only two strong arms kept her from falling to the floor.

"Damn!" the other person muttered and pulled her back to her feet.

Max touched Tara's arm. "You all right?"

"Yeah," Tara rubbed her arm and looked at the man she was walked into. "Damn, you're heavy."

He pushed his blond fringe out of his face. "Sorry," he said with a frown. "Did I hurt you, ma'am?"

Tara shook her head and smiled at him, noting his vivid blue eyes and warm straw coloured hair. His chiselled jaw was tightly clenched as if he wanted nothing less than to talk to her and nothing more than to swat her out of the way.

"I'm good," she said quickly, something telling her that the last thing she wanted was to get on his wrong side. "Wasn't watching where I was going is all."

"Me too," he gave a ghost of a smile as he looked over her shoulder to where the crowds gathered. "What's going on?"

"How should we know?" Max said defensively, her emotions in tatters. "Probably a mega sale."

"Hardly," he returned coolly. "Weren't you at the window?"

Max looked at Tara who nodded carefully. "There was a news bulletin saying the cops had tried to arrest one of those tr-mutants that all the tabloids are talking about. The poor thing looked terrified."

"Mutants?" His gaze shot to the crowd.

"Probably a stitch job for publicity," Max said. "Or some poor kid with a disability. All we need now is public panic and hysteria over it, lends credence to a bunch of frat boy imaginations."

He settled his cool gaze on her. "Really?"

"Go see for yourself," Max gestured to the window not liking the way that he seemed to be measuring her up with his expression.

"I might at that. Ladies."

Max watched him walk away.

"Good spin," she said quietly. "It might not make any difference though."

"One questioning is a start," Tara said softly even though there was no way he could hear them from that far away, she pointed to the man as he walked away. "One questions and it can carry to doubts, each voice will count in this war, Max."

The man stopped dead in the middle of the street. He spun on his heel, gawking at them in shock.

"Max!"

Max started and stepped back, her eyes intent on him.

There was no way that he could have heard them form this distance. That meant he was either a transgenic or one of White's cronies. Tara felt, rather than saw, Max manoeuvre herself into a fighting pose.

"Depends on who wants to know." Her hands flexed, ready for a fight.

The blond walked slowly back, all the while staring at her.

"Close enough, pal," Max said as he got to within touching distance.

The side of his mouth quirked. "You don't recognise your big brother, Maxie?"

He touched her face with his forefinger and Max's mouth dropped open as those blue eyes pushed some memory loose, a memory of long ago, of warm hugs and teasing manners.

"Zack?" she breathed.

"Hey, baby girl."

Max threw her arms around his neck and held on for dear life.

"Zack," she whispered into his neck and taking in the scent of him that was so familiar and so comforting.

He pulled away and looked down into her eyes; his face broke into a huge grin. "Damn, Max, it's good to see you. We thought you were dead."

"Take more'n ice to keep me down," she said brushing her hair out of her face. "What are you doing here?"

"I was on my way to see Eyes Only."

"Logan?" Max blinked and even Zack looked taken aback.

"You know him?"

"We've just been there. Wait… he knows about you?" Her eyes narrowed. "He told us he had no contact."

Zack scoffed. "You expect roller-boy to be truthful?" He reached out and touched her hair, stroking it soothingly. "Didn't know you were so naïve."

Max rolled her eyes, secretly pleased that he was teasing her and feeling so comfortable with his touch, even if she hadn't seen him in so long. It felt the same as when she hugged Pix, like home.

"Hardly naïve, Zack, I'm a big girl now."

"You grew up well," he allowed and Max swelled at the praise.

"So why are you off to see his royal ass-ness?"

Zack shrugged. "I caught a broadcast yesterday and wanted to know who sent it, if it was a dud. Guess I know now."

Max smirked. "Your friendly neighbourhood trans-G."

"So if it was you, what's with the instant recall, Maxie?" he frowned pulling her to one side. "Having everyone in one place will compromise everyone's safety."

"Safety in numbers," Max maintained, somehow not used to having her orders questioned in this way. "Those we have together are family, Zack."

He shook his head. "They're soldiers... And so are you. The only person you can rely on, Max, is yourself. Everything else is just a lie. It's phoney sentimentality. And it will get you killed."

Max stared dumbfounded at her brother. "That's a lonely life, Zack. We may not be human," she said quietly, "but even most animals need to be sociable with those of their own kind. We need to stay together."

He shook his head. "If you stay in a group, you risk tactical exposure or have you forgotten everything that they taught us?"

It was Max's turn to shake her head. "No, but I'm trying real hard at it. You're still back at Manticore. Maybe I'm chasing a sentimental lie but at least I'm trying to get away from it. I was there for ten years longer than you, Zack. I understand the way the system worked and the mistakes that they made and tried to rectify later on."

Zack started. "Mistakes?"

"Heat? Seizures? Claws? Mating? All the things that they never planned for; never even imagined. I lived through that, Zack. We lived through that. Manticore changed a lot after you had gone and forced separation was one of those issues that they changed their minds over. Whilst ten of you were gone, scatter and stay low was a good idea, but now? There are hundreds of us out there maybe more, one of the facilities burnt down and we all made it out."

"I know," he said absently, trying to sort all this out in his head.

Max frowned. "How do you know?"

"Eyes Only," he hedged wanting her to continue but not wanting to spill the fact that he was responsible for the destruction of her home.

"There is not only safety, but power in numbers and with this exposure it's the only way."

"Exposure?"

Tara, forgotten until now, placed a hand on his shoulder. "We need to talk about this. But not out here, Max. We have to go back."

Max nodded. "Come on, Zack, come back with us. There are things that you have to know."

Zack hesitated. "Okay, just for a while."

Max smiled as she tucked her arm into her brother's. "Oh, by the way, this is Tara."

"Charmed," Zack smiled.

"Likewise," said Tara all the while wondering exactly what Alec was going to say about this new development.

>>>>

At that moment Alec wasn't even thinking of Max. He was far too busy sorting through some of the new arrivals that Aiden had sent his way. Twenty-nine groups of soldiers had entered Terminal City in the past hour and Pix had delegated Alec –as a natural born charmer— to greet them.

When Alec had protested that he wasn't a "people person", an overworked, stressed and irate Pix had yelled that he 'had better damn well start then!'

Alec had taken a step back and agreed simply to keep the peace.

The fact that he knew Pix still had his little black book helped not just a little.

He'd asked Feen to set up housing for the small group of kids that had arrived earlier, assigned two mules to security detail and sent a bunch of anomalies to the kitchen when he discovered that none of them had eaten in two weeks.

He had just finished paperwork on the girl who had come in alone when another group was ushered into the room by Chance.

"Hey, Alec. Here's some more."

Alec looked up to the group of children flanked by a tall dark-skinned transgenic.

"Hey, did you go by old M?" he asked by way of greeting and smiled at one of the smaller children who blushed and held even tighter to a small ragged bear that she had somehow gotten hold of.

"Yeah," answered the only adult. "Picked up the token from Aiden."

They had given Aiden a load of tokens snuck from one of the labs in the middle of Terminal City, inscribed with a specific symbol to allow those back at Terminal City to know that this was the genuine article. They had thought long and hard as to what the symbol could be. Something that was specific to the transgenics but something that not even the upper brass would know.

"Great," Alec nodded and held his hand out for the identifying token and inspected it when he handed it over. Alec grinned as he turned over the token to see a little black book etched into the back. "Looks fine. So, uh… what are your designations and names?"

"Uh, these are third and fourth gen X's, I'm X5-310."

"310?" Alec frowned and put his pen down. "Why is that familiar?"

"I was part of Unit 2," 310 said. "We had several classes together."

Alec clicked his fingers together as the face became familiar to him. "That's right, I remember you from life skills and Escape and Evade."

The man grinned, his white teeth showing against his dark skin. "Did you manage to escape with 45—Max, Alec?"

"Yeah," Alec smirked. "That was fun. What was your name again?"

"Harley," he said. "I escaped south of Seattle with this group until I heard the call."

Alec was about to answer when the door opened and Gem stood there with Cece, their arms full with blankets and boxes. It was funny to just be able to see their heads over the top of the items.

"Alec, we found these in one of the drawers, thought they might come in handy if some of the transgenics come in soaked or cold."

"Great idea," Alec said. "Come on in, this is Harley."

Gem walked in and smiled at the X-series. "Welcome to Terminal City."

None of them saw Cece freeze behind the door.

Harley took the blankets off Gem and she gave him a grateful smile, ignoring his wide eyes as he saw her obviously pregnant stomach for the first time. She leaned down to the children.

"Hey there, hope you all like it here."

"This is Gem," Alec introduced, glad that he could palm the kids off onto her. "And this is…"

Cece had vanished.

"…thin air," Alec finished vaguely, his brow furrowed in confusion.

"Cece?" Gem called and peered out into the hallway.

Harley straightened, his eyes wide. "Cece? As in 202?"

"Yeah," Alec said suspiciously.

"Uh, where does she work?" Harley shifted from foot to foot uneasily.

"Usually in the kitchen," Gem said puzzled. "You know her?"

"Only in the biblical sense," he said under his breath and neither Alec nor Gem caught it.

"Well, you're gonna wanna settle in," Alec decided. "Gem can show you where block F is, rooms 8 through 12 are free."

"Great," Harley said, but his voice was distracted.

Alec watched them leave with the vague feeling that he was missing something there, but the thought was put out of his head totally when he heard shouts coming from central command.

He raced down to where people were gathered around one of the screens and watched in horror with the rest of his fellow transgenics as one of their own was captured on camera throwing a cop thirty feet.

"Shit!" he summed up succinctly and heard the murmur of assent around the room.

He exchanged glances with Pix as the rumble of voices escalated.

"Lockdown," he suggested and Pix nodded gathering himself.

"Listen to me!" Pix called authoritatively and the voices stopped as everyone turned to stare at him. "We are now officially in creek territory; as in up it without a paddle. This city is now on full security alert. There is no more time. We need every able man to sign up for security rotation and surveillance. No excuses and no sneaking out. Exposure is real and is happening now. Someone recall Aiden and tell him to leave the cryptic map."

"I'll do it," Dek offered and raced for the walkie talkie.

"Everyone else; I need a full search and scan, I want every hole in TC locked up tight. From sewer to rooftop, every vent shaft is to be inspected every mouse hole to be filled. Nothing goes in or out of this place that we don't know about."

Silence.

"Move!"

There was the sudden burst of sound and activity as they raced to do his bidding, not even the Spec Ops or Unit stopping to register the odd fact that it was Pix who had issued the order.

"Max is still outside," Alec reminded him quietly, handing him the clipboard he had somehow managed to hold onto through his mad dash to the centre.

Pix gave the arrivals list a cursory glance before handing it back to him absently. "She'll understand, I only hope she's managed to talk Eyes Only into being altruistic on our behalf."

"Shouldn't be too hard," Alec tried to reassure him. "From what I saw, any excuse to help the underdog is embraced like a cheap whore."

Pix blinked. "Delightful turn of phrase."

"Thanks."

"But not around the kids, okay?"

It was Alec's turn to blink. "Kids?" He turned to see Chance holding the hand of two newly arrived transgenics, her expression indicating that she, too, had heard his course language and wasn't impressed.

"More new arrivals, Alec."

Alec grinned sheepishly. "Thanks, Chance."

Pix's muffled laugh was heard behind him and he shot their new leader a glare as the two children followed him back up into the office.

Pix let his gaze rake possessively over Chance as she turned to pick up a sheaf of papers.

"I can feel that," she said sweetly.

"Wish I could," he countered with a leer. "How can you do that to me without even knowing it?"

Chance blushed and looked around noticing the faces pointedly not looking in their direction.

It was impossible and slightly pointless to hold a private conversation when everyone around could hear the squeak of a mouse from miles away.

"Pix," she warned, her face flushing a delightful pink colour. She ducked her head, her hair forming a curtain to cover her cheeks.

"Are you almost done with the new arrivals?" he asked, his tone more that of a lover than that of her leader.

Chance tried to ignore the sensations that raced over her as he took her hand and brought it to his lips.

"Pix!" she hissed totally embarrassed at this display. But no matter how embarrassed she was, it was delightful to see that mischievous spark back in his eyes.

Since taking on practically the whole of Terminal City by himself he had been lost in paperwork and rarely had time for the old Pix to come into play and she had missed that look in his eyes that arrived whenever he was just about to embark on some piece of naughtiness; or when he had that uber innocent look proclaiming louder than a scream that he was guilty beyond all measure.

She loved it and had missed it.

But not in central command during a crisis! She tried to pull her hand away even as he nibbled on her fingers.

"Pix!"

Mole coughed delicately nearby and she heard someone cover a snicker.

Pix pouted deliciously. "Aw, come on Chance, I missed breakfast and you taste so nice."

"Breakfast is the most important meal of the day; maybe you should go fill up and take your hands _off _my baby sister before I feed them to the nearest chinchilla?"

Chance squealed loud enough that even the most hard of hearing transgenic winced and she leaped into the waiting arms of Biggs.

Pix shoved his hands in his pockets and glared mutinously at Sunny. "You couldn't have kept him away for any longer?"

Sunny swept her blonde hair over her shoulder and smirked. "Serves you right for partaking in the middle of the day in public. Hardly manners you know."

"Gee, where have you been," he inquired as she came up to the central dais, "Finishing school?"

"Only if the rattle of coins is a polishing technique," she reached him and pulled him into a quick hug. "Hey, Pix."

Pix ruffled her hair affectionately. "Hey, Sunny. Good to see you."

Biggs came up behind her, one arm slung around the shoulder of his little sister. "Pix."

"Biggs."

They sized each other up and every memory of their skirmishes, every fight both verbal and physical, and every glare that they had ever shared sizzled along that one glance.

Biggs clutched Chance possessively as if to warn Pix that he was back now and he could take care of his own, thank you very much.

Pix reached out and slung an arm over Sunny's shoulder in silent challenge.

Sunny was my friend before yours. You take mine and I will make damn sure that you have the worst time of your life.

Biggs let his gaze flicker for a moment, letting Pix know that he had caught the inference and took it on board.

Pix tried a sunny smile. "Well, isn't it nice to see the two of you back? Staying long?"

"Pix!" admonished his girlfriend as she clung to her brother. "Play nice."

"Of course," he patted the pocket that she knew held his little black book.

Biggs followed his hand and took a step back as he remembered the action and what it usually entailed. He smiled uneasily.

"No need for that."

Pix just smiled. Oh, it was so good to have them back.

TBC….

* * *

Bluejean452- Cheers pet, Max and Alec really are cute together aren't they? I know I adore them still.

Sigma1- I just love writing, anything I can. Of course if it made me money that would be nice too. The art manip challenge that I set for someone to draw me a pic for the last chapter. Poor baby, hope you are feeling better now.

Caboodle- Cheers pet, more soonas.

Keekee- It felt different too- I think that's because I read a hell of a lot of Pride and Prejudice before I started to write—blame it on the Austenite!

Sakura- I would love to update more often but I have this pesky thing called work to do—it sucks but provides me with enough tea and biscuits to keep me happy. The 09er's will be making an appearance and there is only 1 chapter of PO and 4 or so of SF left.

Aku-neko- Mole just has this special presence that makes people want to be his friend. LOL. More M/A moments coming up with a twist of lemon. Kudorrific? LOL. Like that' The whole cult thing is a far cry from the show but I don't think that made much sense, I prefer the super-human element rather than weird sci-fi experiments.

Pinkflipflop3- It's very hard to think that 3 other people decided to be a pink flipflop. The rest of them will be coming together soon, we get to see many reunions in this chapter. As for Ben/Drew/Dek- have to wait until next chapter of PO.

Moonlite star- Cheers pet, gotta love White—he's such a cool bad guy. The cult thing is a very interesting angle to work from.

Geminangel- Bulli may make a future appearance, I haven't really decided as yet. The Sandeman angle wasn't really explored in the series as much as I think it could have been. In my story he is a bit of a psycho, and we have enough of them so that's why we wont see him. scarily proud of that piece of logic.)

Crimsonreality- Cheers pet.

BlackRose9- But unlike Maccy-D's, my produce will not produce wind and calories.

JJBP- How long? Ooh chapter and a half? Ish.

Starr Light1- I'm not sure if that was compliment or sucking up. Either way that has to be the sweetest review I have had. A real book… I wonder if I could get it published? Anyhoo Logan will be popping up with annoying frequency. I may have be nice to the guy—I don't have to like it.

Kim- Up his sleeves? Arms usually. Something just struck me that Sandeman wasn't the sweet father figure that we always thought. After all, why leave Joshua in the basement? Or let his kids be treated that way if he truly cared. And why mix humans and animals and put it in kids? Creepy mad guy was the only answer.

RoxyRoo- I never liked Cece, siccing her with kids seemed the perfect answer. More reunions coming up thus.

Aleja21- Hey pet, glad you like it and congrats for finding us again. I did stop for a while which could be why you missed it. Enjoy, read and review.

Toniboo- Friends are great but boy do they take up valuable reading time. I know that mine do! Lydecker is an odd one and no one is sure whether he is good or bad—even me!

Electricgurl- All rugby tackle White—he he I can see that. More Max/Alec goodness in the next part along with a generous helping of smuttishness. Just for you.

Nevanroy- Cookie? Choc chip? Oatmeal and raisin? What's your choice? Or do you mean English cookie or American Cookie because they are very very different.

Lotamoxie- Lydecker should live by that motto- better late than never. He always seems to come in after the fact. Not good for those who are dead, of course? He is far away from Manticore and Aiden is lucky… and gorgeous but that is a different matter.

Guesttypeperson- Alec always manages to be cute, it'd be irritating if it wasn't so damn endearing. Long live Dek… and Drew I guess.

Pixiewildfire- Cheers pet, glad you like and thanks for you-know-what.

Athena80- Thank you very much, gotta love Pix being in charge for a change. If you read Pressing Onwards you see what the others have been up to.

Meri24- Okay already, you people have no patience, One Dek/Drew scene coming up.

Thisiswheremynamegoes- cheers. Sorry you think that the characters are confusing. If you read PO they get less so, honest!

Grey daze's nirvana- Eesh I couldn't imagine being without the net for more than couple of days! Yup more M/A action on its way and hopefully you'll get to read more of that soon as.

Mystic Fayth- Uh… hello?

L80bug- What happened to the promised update? I went to Wales, where it was freezing and oh so slightly cold. Thank you, I'm glad that they aren't confusing to you. There are an awful lot of them so I could see how that could be, but I always see them as the pictures on the site anyway.

Angelofdarkness231- I'm sure Dek would be delighted to hear that.

Elle6778- Mole is very cool isn't he, gotta love a green guy. Max could resist Alec because all men are scum. It's a fact. LOL, okay I have issues but even I wouldn't be able to turn Alec down! Sandeman was a bit of a creep and a lunatic at that. I know that Lydecker is an odd guy to describe he doesn't fall into the good-guy/bad-guy mould very easily. Not sure what to make of him.

Ladybug- yes.

Lavenderbrown- cool name, another Potterite? Who do you ship? Seen the movie? Ahem, glad you like this fic, I gotta say that it isn't easy but so much fun anyway. Enjoy

Allison lightning- I'm not sure that the familiars are smart enough to bother with at times. White is male after all. (grumbles about men in general, men in specific and one in particular) I think lots of people forget that the whole story changed when Max got left behind. Logan never had her to stop him falling into pillar of despair when his legs went—he did try to commit suicide at one point if you remember. Asha also never materialised here because Max stopped her heist back in MAL and a load of other factors which changed Logan's life totally. He isn't the same person that he was in the series because his whole life was different with Max being around.

Chaigirl- okay already! I'll update.

Ladybug- way past.


	17. 14b release

**The first thingI should say is that have started to make provision for authors to answer reviews in the reviews section. Since they have done that I will be answering reviews there from now on. The downside is that if you aren't logged in, it won't let me. The solution? if you leave your email address I will email you with thanks etc. **

**Please, please, please don't let it put you off reviewing. Reviews have dropped off in recent chapters and I am wracking my brains to think of ways to boost them. They are like drugs, people. They are like candy. PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW ME.**

**Ahem, okay, i'll behave.**

**That said, remember the challenge to draw/design/manip a pic for the last chapter of SF is still open. I have had ONE. come on.

* * *

**

Ch14b Release

Harley had managed to get all six children settled in; had found at least half of their units and watched their reunions with something akin to relief.

It wasn't that he was opposed to children at all, but having six fully fledged transgenics of varying ages totally dependant on him had more than tried what limited patience he had been given by Manticore. Especially when two were in the realms of the terrible teens and had questioned almost every decision he made. He was actually glad to finally get to live for himself for a change and, with that in mind, he went to find Cece.

Back at Manticore he had spent a lot of time watching Special Ops and Unit 8, wishing that he had been part of the obvious camaraderie and friendship that they had. It seemed that whenever they were on the outs with each other, the whole of the facility seemed colder and that much less inviting and when they all made up it was like the sun had come out.

He, and indeed the rest of the facility, watched them like they were one of those soap opera things they saw on television. They wondered who had been dating who and what that fight was about, why he wasn't speaking to her or why those two refused to see that they were made for each other.

Needless to say many of the other transgenics had developed a bad case of hero-worship or started to fancy one of the elite. It had been an odd experience to have idols and crushes that walked around with you and who it was possible to interact with.

For Harley's friend, Elf, Pix was his mascot. He idolised Pix and wanted to share some of his jokes, pranks and tricks and talk to the man who always made him smile.

Sadly, Elf had been killed by gunfire during an away mission in Arabia and never got to speak to his idol, but Harley?

Harley had watched the women of the group.

He had marvelled at Max's abilities and determination; he had felt protective over the sweet Chance; he had been scared of psychotic Drew and he had respected the talented Tara.

But he had watched Cece with a single-mindedness that was rooted in appreciation for her unwavering loyalty to Alec and her ability to stick to her opinions no matter how unpopular that made her.

It had been luck of the draw that he had pulled her as Sex Education partner and he had made sure that he used that to his full advantage, hoping maybe to talk her into letting it become something a bit more permanent. He had been more annoyed at the destruction of Manticore than he had ever been at anything and had cursed Director Renfro to hell and back for cutting short his playtime with the delectable 202.

Now he knew she was somewhere in the building he was determined not to let this chance slip through his fingers.

He finally found the catering area and searched for the kitchen, where he had been told Cece would be.

His palms began to sweat as he heard her voice above all others and he edged closer to the door trying to get up the courage to go in to talk to her.

He paused when he heard his name mentioned and stilled trying to listen harder.

"So? He's cute!" He heard Gem say.

"I barely know the guy," Cece's voice filtered through and he smiled.

There was a snort. "I think I can safely say you know him well enough, darling."

Cece huffed. "Gee, thanks Gem, that's just what I want to hear."

"You can't hide from the guy, Cece, and from the way he looked in Alec's office, he hasn't forgotten you."

Of course he hadn't, Harley thought. She'd been on his mind pretty much non-stop since the day he'd first seen her.

"Can't I just hide in the kitchen forever?"

Harley frowned, why was she so insistent on not seeing him?

"No," Gem's voice was firm. "You have to tell him."

Tell him what?

"Exactly how am I supposed to do that?" Cece's tone was full of sarcasm.

"It's not like he won't be able to guess once he sees you, sweets."

"What am I supposed to say to him? "Hey, Harley, not only are you a genetically engineered piece of perfection but you have super-sperm, Happy Father's day!"?"

Harley's jaw dropped.

"It's a start," Gem said, ignoring the sarcasm.

"He'd run a mile."

"You know the great thing about being transgenic?"

"What?"

"You could catch him."

"Hah, ha," Cece said flatly. "No, I'm gonna hibernate for the winter. I could live here in the kitchen."

"Even transgenics get hungry," Gem pointed out clattering some pots. "He'll see you eventually."

"I hear Greenland's nice this time of year," Cece said weakly.

Harley decided it was time to make a move, even though his head was reeling.

"I hate the snow," he said as he leaned on the doorframe and looked at the mother of his child for the first time in months.

Cece spun around with a small squeak and faced him.

The first thing that he noticed was that she had let her hair grow. It used to swing just below her shoulder but now it was curling almost to her much fuller breasts, skimming her neck and showing off her elfin features to best advantage. Her frame was still tall and made that much more sensual by the pronounced curve of her full belly. Her features glowed and even the distressed look on her face couldn't mask her beauty.

His gaze fell to her stomach and he let a lazy smile grace his features. "Hey there, Cece."

Gem let her gaze flick between the two. "Oh, look at the time, I have to go… go… away." she finished lamely and hurried out of the kitchen, ignoring Cece's yelp of panic.

The door closed firmly behind her and silence settled on the room like a blanket.

Cece cast her eyes everywhere except Harley, finally latching her gaze on the very interesting piece of flooring by her feet. Fascinating it was too, all with squares and hard cool tiles in a very nice grey colour and ooh, look, wasn't that a stain starting in that corner? Maybe she should clean the floor, after all wasn't she supposed to have this nesting feeling starting about now? In fact if she tried really hard—

"Cece?"

Cece bit her lip. "Hi."

Harley bit back a smile. "Is there something that you wanted to tell me?"

Cece looked down at her bulge and back up at him incredulously. "Isn't it obvious?"

He blinked innocently. "No."

She narrowed her eyes. "No?"

He held back a grin as she started to bubble over.

"No? It's not obvious? The fact that I look like a capsized super-tanker isn't obvious? The fact that my feet are swollen like watermelons in harvest season isn't obvious?"

"Do watermelons have a harvest season?" he wondered aloud.

"Unimportant!" she thundered. "I get up ten times in the night to pee, I eat more than four Xs put together, I can bitch for America, my back aches constantly, my legs are sore, I have marks—MARKS!—on my body that sure weren't there before—" Harley wondered if she'd let him look for them "—and… and I'm fat."

She deflated so quickly with that and he could tear the tears starting in her voice as she pouted, her bottom lip trembling. "I'm fat. You know what that makes me?"

"Beautiful," he said as he walked forward. "You are so damn beautiful that it makes my teeth hurt."

Cece's gaze fell from his and he cupped her chin in one strong hand, smiling at the tremor that started in her body at his touch.

He had hope.

"I'm pregnant," she whispered as he reached up and ran a finger over her cheek.

"I know," he whispered back softly.

"I don't know what to do," Cece confessed hesitantly, looking up into his possessive gaze as if hoping that he would have the answers.

Harley took a deep breath. "Do you want me around to help figure it out?"

There was a moment of silence when Harley waited with bated breath for the phrase that could change his entire life. He wouldn't beg; if she said 'no' then he would walk away. But if she said yes…

…there was a world of possibility in that one world.

"Yes."

A world they'd share together.

>>>>

Getting back into Terminal City was harder than getting out of it had been and Max was very proud of the arrangements that Pix had put into play. She was able to get Tara and Zack inside with very few problems and noted the various ways in which they could beef up security.

The three of them made their way through the streets with Max feeling almost bubbly, showing her brother what they had already achieved and the safety measures they had implemented to ensure that there was no breech of security and, despite himself, Zack was impressed.

That wasn't to say that he was prepared to bring the others in on this until he was 100 sure that they would be safe here. He still maintained that the ideal thing would be for them to all scatter and go to ground but the more that he saw of Terminal City, the more he realised that, for some, that would be impossible.

The girl who could melt against the wall might stand a chance but the boy with the hooked hands and tail would never fit in.

Max was telling him about all of the wonderful things that Terminal City was and could be for them all, a home away from home and a safe haven.

Even whilst his head yelled at her for her phoney sentimentality he found his heart secretly yearning for all that she offered.

She took him into central command and Tara followed amused at seeing her commanding officer babble at the man, seemingly trying to gain his approval.

Greetings were yelled from several quarters as they walked in and Max took the time to greet each person by name or designation, it was one thing that she had learnt back at Manticore, to keep command and respect you had to gain the respect of the individuals of the unit, not just a group as a whole.

Zack was bemused as she was greeted almost as a returning hero, something that she shrugged off good naturedly.

She headed up to the centre dais and smiled at Mole.

"Hey, Gecko, where's Pix?"

Mole thumbed over his shoulder to Alec's office and peered down his cigar at the blond standing behind her. "Who's the square, Princess?"

Max hesitated. She was well aware that most transgenics had issues with the '09ers, herself notwithstanding, and didn't want to scare Zack off. On the other hand if he came back he had to know that he wouldn't be as accepted as some of the others.

"Zack, he's my brother."

Mole blinked and his finger tightened on his gun. "That so?"

Max watched him; her eyes intent on the lizard man's, transmitting both a warning and a plea for understanding and trust. Mole acknowledged it with a nod.

"Okay," Mole shrugged. "Pretty boy and Pixie have guests."

Max frowned and knocked on the door.

"C'min."

"Great security." Zack rolled his eyes and Max felt the childish urge to poke her tongue out at him.

The door opened and Max poked her head inside. "Okay to come— FLEX!"

"Hey, Max!" Flex took two steps and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into a huge hug and spinning around quickly.

Alec smiled indulgently as Flex grabbed at his girl. He had been so worried that she wouldn't be able to get back into Terminal City—a ridiculous worry since he knew her, but then fears were so seldom based on logic or rationality. He was so relieved that he ignored those Max had come in with apart from absently noticing Tara, and he focussed on the smile lighting up her face and ensured Flex's hands stayed above waist level.

Max giggled as her feet went flying and she scrambled in Flex's embrace.

"Put me down, dumbass."

"Okay, sweetheart."

Max found her feet and punched his arm glancing around the room from Alec, Pix and Dek to Chance and the room's other occupants. There were small people who she didn't know, two blondes that looked like twins, one dark skinned girl and two small boys, one curled up by the door; and a few newer faces that she did recognise.

"Sunny, Biggs, Skye," she greeted with a beaming smile hardly reminiscent of her usual dour self that they all looked askance at her.

"Who gave Max happy pills this morning?" Biggs drawled and she rolled her eyes.

"Just happy to see some of my friends, of which you are not included," she retorted and Biggs laughed.

"There she is!"

"Good to see you, Max," Sunny said as she came over to hug Max.

"Hey, Max," Skye welcomed with her usual lack of tactility.

"You all been together?" Max asked quickly as Tara also welcomed her friends.

"No, me and Biggs have been in LA making a packet," Sunny detailed happily. "Casino's are the place for a transgenic to be, seriously."

"And me and my boy, who you still have your hands on incidentally," Skye said with an arch look at Max still clasping Flex's hand, "were in the wilds of who knows where with the Swiss family Manticore."

The small boy wrinkled his nose. "She mean us?"

"Sure, Zeph, she's just geographically challenged, we're Greek not Swiss," the taller of the boys stated dryly.

Max's lips twitched. "And you are?"

"Isacar at your service, ma'am," he said with a small bow. He gave a quick glance to Flex and then reached for Max's hand, bestowing a small kiss on it before anyone could say anything.

Alec glowered and both Dek and Flex burst out laughing.

"Oh, I like him!" Dek said between guffaws.

"Try living with him," the blonde girl said with a roll of her eyes. "I'm Icarus."

"Nyx," introduced the other girl.

"This is Zeph and that's Galen."

Max smiled. "I suddenly understand the Greek comment."

Skye smirked. "Guys this is Max. 452."

Their eyes opened wide.

"Wow!" Zeph breathed.

"452? Really?" Nyx asked curiously.

"Don't tell me, you expected someone taller?" Max groaned quite used to the reactions of those who met the C.O. of Special Ops for the first time. The younger Xs hadn't really had the chance to be around the older Xs, especially not Special Ops, unless they had been in a training lesson of Max and Alec's back in Manticore.

The status and legend of Max; the '09er who became the greatest had made the rounds of the younger transgenics and the stares she got sometimes embarrassed her to the point of blushing. She tried to carry off the nerves through humour.

"She looks even smaller from far away," Alec teased and Max narrowed her eyes.

"How about I kick your ass, pretty boy?"

"Always thinking about my ass," Alec said pouting at a blushing Icarus.

Max scoffed. "I've said it before and I'll say it again, you have one redeeming feature."

"Not what you said last night," Alec shot back hoping she'd blush.

"Was that before or _after_ you woke up drooling?"

There was a shout of laughter as Alec realised he had been beaten.

"That's my girl!" Flex said approvingly.

"My girl," admonished Alec.

"My girl," corrected Zack and everyone looked at him for the first time.

"And you are?" Alec raised an eyebrow as he checked out the alarmingly attractive male that was standing far too close to Max for his peace of mind.

Zack folded his arms across his chest and leaned against the doorframe staring at Alec imperturbably. But it was only a façade as his heart was pounding in his chest like a lump-hammer as he stared at the mirror image of his brother.

He had frozen upon entering the room and seeing Alec. Even though he knew that Ben had a twin, had known since watching him and Max at Manticore, it was surreal and not just a little unnerving to see him in the flesh, looking so much like Ben and yet not at all.

He could see in the way that he held himself that Alec was different.

Alec had a lounging gracefulness that proclaimed that if you messed with him, he would hurt you—badly— but until then he would be your best friend.

But Ben had a tremor of dangerousness simmering just beneath the surface that was only vaguely hidden by a playful psychosis.

The comparison was of patting a restrained wolf to being alone with a rabid tiger; both would happily rip your arm off but only the tiger needed no excuse.

Zack had covered up for Ben on more occasions than he could recall and when he had discovered Ben's latent homicidal tendencies he had felt like he had failed his little brother, it was one of the reasons why he was so uncomfortable around him; well, that and the fact that he wasn't sure he would wake up with a full set of molars if he fell asleep in Ben's presence.

Alec may not be the same guy, but they both shared DNA and 'blood will out'. No matter how comfortable Max seemed around this Alec dude, deep down he was still Ben's twin and was not to be trusted.

Maybe he'd stick around for a while just to keep an eye on this guy.

"Zack," he introduced himself belligerently.

Alec bristled insulted at the slow once over and even slower answer. "And that would be?"

"An '09er," Dek filled in quietly and there was a muted hush suddenly.

"Max's brother?" Alec said somewhat hopefully.

"If it makes you feel better," Zack shrugged one shoulder, obviously enjoying the sensation that he had caused. "Some of us see the relationship in less… familial terms."

Flex grimaced. "So you _are_ Max's brother?"

Zack simply smiled, much to the irritation of Alec.

Max decided to step in sensing that all the Alpha males in the room were ready to start peeing in corners to mark their territory. "As great as this family reunion is, I think that one is flagging." She pointed to the smallest boy who had yet to say a word.

"That's Galen," Zeph said. "He doesn't talk."

"Ever?" Max blinked as Skye picked him up and hauled him over her shoulder.

"Not as yet," Skye corrected with a glare at Zeph who pouted under her admonishing look. She softened and he wrapped himself around her leg.

The interaction had taken mere seconds and yet it had told them so much about Skye's place in the lives of the children.

Max smiled. "Wow, that's sweet. Although you may want to offer Cece some pointers."

"Yeah, I heard she was knocked up, who did that?"

"Some X called Harley, I heard," Tara offered with a smile for the young girl Icarus.

Alec's gaze left Zack with whom he was having a staring contest with and he did a double take. "Harley? Huh, that explains that."

Everyone looked bemused at him and he waved. "Never mind."

"Can't wait to see Techie," Flex said with a smile.

"He should be in the lower quarter," Pix said, "with Feen."

"Of course," everyone chorused.

"That reminds me," Sunny turned to Skye and Flex. "Have you seen Steve?"

There was a moment's silence.

"He didn't make it," Flex said watching Skye carefully as she hugged Galen to her.

"Shit," whispered Biggs. He had always been fond of Steve; in fact they had been in the same unit since before Chance had been born. He sat back on his chair and Sunny tucked her head into his shoulder knowing how he felt.

"I'm so sorry," Max whispered and Alec bowed his head.

"Damn it."

"Has anyone seen Drew?" Sunny suddenly said.

"No, why?" Dek felt an icy fear clutch his heart.

"Mets didn't make it out either."

"Oh, god!" Tara felt tears come to her eyes as she pictured the reaction of Drew to that. They may not have been together but she knew that Drew and Mets were still good friends.

"How?" Pix asked quietly.

"It was a falling beam, he saved me and Biggs." Sunny honoured his memory with tears in her eyes. "Steve?"

"Gun fire," Zeph said, "he saved us all."

The hero's deaths didn't make the fact that they were dead any easier but it was nice to know that that was how they would be remembered.

"We'll set up a memorial to the dead," Pix said. "Now that we are getting more and more transgenics together we are getting an account of the fallen. Some will want to know."

"Anyone seen Coco?" asked Skye.

There were shaken heads as no one recalled seeing her.

"Well, there is still time. I mean, Max's signal only went out yesterday, so the rest of the guys could be in transit," Pix tried to be comforting.

"Sheesh, you are all so sentimental," Zack said. "No one would think you are Manticore the way you whine about each other."

There was a wave of hostility towards the encroaching '09er.

Max spun around to glare at him. "Zack!"

"I'm just saying," he smirked. "I wouldn't get so worried about searching for twenty or so highly trained soldiers. After all you had special training, didn't you?" His sarcastic comment was met with more than a few raised eyebrows and a feeling of piteous resentment that he couldn't understand the bond that they with each other.

Max alone was silently watching him without rancour or distaste. "And yet you know where every '09er is at this moment in time. In fact," she put up a hand when he began to interrupt, "I'm sure that within a year of being on the outside you had found each and every one and had started to monitor them."

Zack's jaw was clenched. "We were children. They needed looking after; I'm their C.O., Max."

"So am I." Her tone was final and she had more than put her point across.

"What?" Zack was confused and even more so with the canary-eating grin that she gave him.

"Max is C.O.," Dek relished filling in the blanks. "Not just of Unit 8 but Special Operations and operatives. Max was basically the head of all transgenics in Terminal City."

"Except me!"

"Except Pix," amended Dek without losing a step.

"No one was in charge of me!" Pix said gleefully.

Zack was still staring at Max with a blank face. "C.O. of Special Ops?"

"452 let everyone out!" Zeph chirped out with a fierce expression of pride. "I was locked in my cell and it was dark and there were explosions and I was scared and then 452 came through the radio telling us to chill and she opened the doors and told us to go to ground until she found a safe place for us and she did!" His hands ended up on his hips with a glare for Zack.

Max felt uncomfortable with the effusive praise and hero-worship that the small boy showed. Alec was just amused and Flex patted his dynamo on the head.

"Well said, Zeph."

"Yeah, thanks," Max affirmed uneasily before turning back to Zack. "The point is that these people are as much my responsibility as the unit are to you. As C.O. I expect you to respect that, even if you don't understand it."

Zack looked intently at this beautiful woman with the raven hair and strong expression and he realised that although she was and always would be his Maxie, she was all at once so much more. Standing in front of him was a leader, a warrior, someone who had been to hell and back and would gladly go through it all again for the ones she loved.

She was more than a soldier and Zack had never been so proud of his little sister.

He nodded slowly, trying not to display any sort of emotion.

"Right, Maxie."

Max smiled. "Don't call me that."

Zack reached over and placed an arm on her shoulder, ignoring the glare that came from Alec. "You may be C.O., but you'll always be my Maxie."

"Mine," Alec muttered mutinously as Max placed her hand over Zack's.

There was a sudden shrill of a phone and everyone looked at Zack as he casually picked the ringing cell from his pocket, using the time to pull himself together.

He checked caller ID and grinned. "Yes," he answered and listened for a few seconds, his eyes intently on Max's. "Affirmative on that, I appreciate the heads up," he paused. "Is one of the dreaded trio about? Yeah? Put him on."

Zack held out the cell for Max. "It's for you."

Max frowned as she grabbed the phone and listened as a masculine voice came on the end.

"Yeah, what do you want, Zack, Oh Master of the mundane?"

Max blinked. "B.J.?"

Silence and then. "Max? Max, that you?"

"Yeah." She looked up at Zack in wonderment and a sparkle that he had seen when she first realised who he was.

"B.J.?" Dek brightened up. "No way!"

Max grinned and spoke into the cell. "Where the hell are you?"

"Seattle, babe, outskirts with Zan and Emma and a particularly fine piece of ass called Jace."

"Well, you, Zan and Emma have got twenty minutes to get your skinny little butts to Terminal City and present." Her words were harsh but the tone was delighted.

"Yes, Ma'am!" the cheeky voice retorted. "Oh, wait, HEY ZAN!"

Max heard a muffled yell from the background. "Got any messages for Max?"

There was one shout and sudden scamper of footsteps before someone yelled. "Hey off the phone!"

"I wanna talk to her."

"Nope, mine."

"Give me the damn phone, B.J. I wanna talk to Max."

"No, you don't, not really."

"B.J., I swear I'll—"

"Oooh, what's this button do?"

"Don't you even dare, you little sh—"

The conversation cut off and Max giggled as she turned to her friends. "Hey, guess who's coming home?"

"BJ!" Pix crowed and slapped Dek on the back. "Our little team is almost complete."

"White better watch his back," Flex said dryly. "When Dek, Pix and BJ get together the world weeps."

"I know I'm scared," dead panned Skye.

"You're never scared," Zeph said loyally and everyone smiled at his obvious love for his surrogate mother.

"Thanks, Kid," Skye reached over and ruffled his hair. "All right, troops, Alec said he's found us a place to bunk up. I, for one, am shattered, so off we go."

"Yeah," Flex agreed. "Pack up and ship out."

"Aye-aye," Zeph giggled and Isacar rolled his eyes.

"If we were at sea, I'd toss you overboard as ballast."

"I can swim," the younger boy replied instantly.

"Not if sharks eat you," Isacar found himself saying. "You can't swim faster than them."

"Can too."

"Can't."

"Can too."

"Can—why am I arguing with a nine year old?" Isacar shook his head. "I knew the fumes of this place were toxic."

"Either that, or your brain is shrinking," Nyx offered.

Dek beamed at the Greeks. "Can I keep them, please?"

Skye rolled her eyes and exchanged amused glances with Tara.

Alec watched carefully as Skye hoisted Galen higher onto her shoulder and Flex reached over to help Nyx pick up the bags they had brought with them. Biggs brushed his lips against Chance's hair and Sunny and Pix gave each other another hug whilst Max leaned up to kiss Zack on the cheek, telling him to go get B.J and the rest of them and bring them to Terminal City.

Zack glanced over Max's shoulder to the glare Alec was shooting him and kissed Max's cheek in return, a triumphant smirk on his face.

The Zack left, looking somewhat bemused at having to carry out orders from his baby sister.

Max moved over to Alec. "Hey, what's with the pensive face?"

"Family," he said shortly, pulling her into a loose embrace.

"What?" She frowned confused.

Alec turned her around and pointed to the rest of the room where they were all laughing, joking and teasing each other mercilessly.

"I often wondered what the point was, why we had left Manticore and what our purpose was now that we were out in the world. I mean, we were soldiers, Max. Who are we if not what they made us? You know what I've just realised?"

"What?"

"Family. This is what makes it all worth while. You and Zack, Biggs and Chance, Flex, Skye and their weird-ass little family. This is what we have been fighting for. This is what we have that Manticore could never understand."

Max closed her eyes in sheer relief. "You get it!" she said quietly. "I never thought that you would, but you do"

"Yeah, I do," he answered and leaned down to kiss her.

She surrendered happily to the feel of his lips on hers and snuggled into his arms.

He was silent for a moment and then couldn't resist any longer.

"Doesn't mean I'm going to like Zack, though."

>>>>

Max stretched luxuriously and felt the satisfying pop as muscles and cartilage appreciated the exercise in a very audible way. Zack had left to bring the others to Terminal City and to Max it was a very formidable victory that Zack realised that being together was better than them all scattering to the winds.

Flex and Skye had taken their kids to get settled down in one of the nearby building, joined by Biggs and Sunny who had become a favourite of Icarus almost immediately. Pix asked Max if she'd mind taking a list of weaponry that they had in store and letting them know how well they'd be able to defend themselves should White choose to attack now.

The huge racks of weapons that Mole had somehow managed to procure reminded her of something out the movie Matrix © that Alec had once shown her. In one scene, huge racks of weaponry whooshed into the long white room, and it was oddly reminiscent of their own weapons storage area.

Originally it had been part of a school changing room for Physical Education, so there were plenty of hooks and racks. Some enterprising transgenic had taken it upon themselves to reorder and alter the room to suit their own purposes and so where the coats used to hang, now were machine guns, where shoes were once stored were now rounds of ammunition and grenades.

There was even a flamethrower in an old hockey-stick rack.

How Mole had gotten that… Max wasn't sure she wanted to know.

She checked off the rounds of bullets for several of the nastier machine guns and stretched her neck again.

"Aching?"

Max relaxed as Alec's voice came from behind her. "Mmm," she muttered rubbing her neck. "Must be carrying around a load of stress."

"He could have walked," Alec muttered darkly, obviously sore at how close Max and Zack had been.

Max gave him a reproachful look. "Alec."

"He may be your brother, Max, but he had way more than brotherly feelings for you."

"Ew!" Max wrinkled her nose. "That's gross. You have a twisted little mind, Alec."

"Less of the little!" he exclaimed playfully.

"What are you doing up anyhow?" She turned back to the racks of guns, hoping to hide her reluctant smile. "I would have thought that you'd have hit the sack by now."

"Couldn't sleep, I found something was missing from my bed… again," he frowned. "Is this gonna be a regular thing?"

Max bit her lip. "It's not like we do much when we share a bed as it is."

Alec jolted. "What?"

Max carefully kept her gaze averted. "I mean that it's been a few weeks now since we found Dek and Aiden and since then we haven't done… anything."

"I thought you needed space? Time?" he said carefully. "I thought you wanted to take it slow."

"Yeah slow, not glacial. I mean we could pussy-foot around each other for years, talking, touching hands, maybe the odd heated glance between courses of pasta. But that's not who we are," she turned to him, clutching the clipboard to her chest. "Hot blooded, Alec. I… _want_ you, I always do and this waiting—well, it's driving me crazy."

The words were hardly out of her mouth when he moved almost faster than she could see, grabbing her up, hauling her against him and crushing her mouth with a kiss so hot she wondered if her lips were smoking.

He didn't just kiss, he plundered, and Max's hot blood pumped like liquid lava through her veins.

"Shit, Max," Alec gasped as he drew back, his hands gripping her shoulders and his eyes hot. "I have been acting the perfect gentleman and all this time you actually wanted this?"

"Always," Max fisted his hair and dragged his lips back to hers. "Here?"

"Damn right!" Alec grabbed at her jacket and yanked it halfway down her arms, not wanting to move those fingers entwined in his hair. He ripped at her shirt, tearing it away at the neck and latching onto her lips again in savage passion.

Max groaned aloud and tugged and tore at his t-shirt and, because her hands were busy, used her teeth to mark him.

He grabbed for her, wrenching his mouth away as he cursed the catch on her jeans. Max was no less impatient with his own khaki pants and the tear of fabric promised them unwearable in future.

Alec had presence of mind to kick the door shut behind him in one powerful kick before Max jumped, scissoring her legs around his waist and rendering all thought impossible. He slammed her against the racks so hard that the guns rattled and fell to the floor in an odd parody of their clothes, and Max gasped hoarsely, knowing that she would be bruised the next day.

Alec's own blood raged and boiled as he crushed his mouth to hers again, their hands dancing over each other's bodies, remembering their secrets after so long apart.

Teeth and claws, nails and lips, biting and licking, sucking and rediscovering; his hands, her hands; his breathing, her breathing; it all mixed and swirled in the mind until they weren't sure where one started and one ended, and then they were joined, a hiss from one and a yell from the other as sensation overrode reason.

The heat simmered as they caught their breath and their eyes focussed on each other, only on each other.

The sound of flesh slapping, sliding against flesh, mixed with the sound of ragged breathing was all that was heard in the room and neither cared what could be heard outside. All heat, desperation and speed that came of frustration and long-denied love was built to a crescendo faster than expected. Her breathing was short, shallow, and caught, releasing in a strangled gasp as he drove her over the edge, following as he did in everything as the explosion rocked them both.

>>>>

Aiden sighed in pure relief as he leaned back in his chair and stretched.

He had made it back from Manticore and joined in welcoming back the majority of Unit 8 and Special Ops, happier than he could say to see B.J. and Emma again.

He had always gotten along with the empathetic transgenic and could see the affection that she held for the gruff '09er known as Zack, almost as soon as they stepped in the room together. He had been bemused at the vast changes that occurred; the fact that Skye was a mommy, the fact that Flex was a dad and not a ladies man. Biggs's reluctant acceptance of Pix and Sunny's new take-charge attitude. They were all growing up so fast and, sadly, maybe even growing apart somewhat.

He had gone to find Dek, knowing somehow that his friend would be able to make him feel better and, knowing that even if he couldn't make Dek feel better about Drew, then at least he could sit up with the sleep-deprived transgenic.

Pix had allocated Dek to security detail for the night, including sorting out the guard rotation and conscription for the military detail.

Dek muttered something about more bloody paperwork than being in the foreign legion which made Aiden point out that Dek had never _been_ in the foreign legion.

Dek was silent for a moment and then requested something anatomically inappropriate and probably impossible for Aiden to attempt with a goat and a bamboo plant.

Points for originality were given before Aiden reclined in his chair.

"I ache in places I didn't know I had!" he moaned and ran a hand through his shaggy hair. "It's so tiring being so inactive all day. Even press ups in the middle of the room haven't helped me stay limber. Manticore only knows how couch potatoes survive," he paused, "Or do they survive only to be turned into fries when it gets hot? Why do potatoes have such a bad reputation?"

The thought would now irritate him for hours.

"Was it that bad?" Del asked sympathetically realising what was behind the babbling of his friend.

"It was harsh remembering all the stuff we did." Aiden pushed back the feelings of being alone at Manticore without the familiar comfort of his friends. It hadn't been a nice feeling. "I swear I could hear the echoes down the hall."

"Echoes?"

"Footsteps," he clarified. "One, two, one, two." He gave a lopsided grin, letting a tired kind of charm show through.

Dek agreed with Aiden's feelings. Although he hadn't gone back to stay, he had gone back once to sift through the debris of C block to try to find any remains of Drew.

By that time, though, someone had removed all of the fallen, so he hadn't known about Steve… nor Mets and _that_ was something to think about on a different day.

But he could identify with Aiden's feelings. There had been something eerie about the abandoned building and he had felt the chill of the place seep into his bones like a ghost settling over his skin.

"I'm going to be okay with it though," Aiden continued. "I just want to hibernate for a week or so."

"So I can't persuade you to do a rotation?" Dek looked at his almost barren guard detail. "Pix is insisting people match up in pairs for safety until all the holes in Terminal Dump-heap are plugged up."

"No."

"C'mon, Aiden, be a pal," Dek teased, not caring whether or not his friend took the assignment or not. He just wanted someone to tease and knew Aiden was willing. Aiden wasn't as pretty as Drew, but he did the job just as well.

"Even if Renfro herself came back from hell to tell me get my ass in gear or I'll join her, I'd tell her to take a hike."

"Really?"

"If Lydecker turned up dressed in a tutu and ordered me or he'll dance Swan Lake, I'd say 'No'."

"After you're done throwing up," Dek was enjoying this.

Aiden got comfy, propping his feet on the strategy table and closing his eyes. "Of course. Not for you, not for Max, hell, not even for a case of best Irish whisky and a Ferrari."

Dek pushed the papers away. "A shiny red one?"

Aiden pretended to consider that. "Nope, not even."

"A black batman car with Boadicea wheels and laser guns attached."

"Leather interior?"

"Of course."

"No."

Dek was still laughing when the door opened.

"Is this a bad time?" the girl said and Dek shook his head, recalling her from the room earlier. She had been older than the blonde and not nearly as annoyingly perky. Dek remembered that she had stayed close to Flex and he definitely seemed to be overprotective of the deceptively delicate girl with the Chinese DNA.

He smiled at her uncertain expression.

"Not at all, sweetheart, what can I do for ya?"

"Nyx, not sweetheart," she stated.

Aiden's eyes flew open and his feet slipped off the table and jarred on the floor as he stared at her. "Hey, Nyx."

"Aiden, right?" she queried.

Aiden nodded with a smile. "What are you doing up? I mean, I thought you'd be asleep, not that I thought… I mean I do, but—"

Dek eyed him oddly before turning to an equally bemused Nyx. "What my weird friend is trying to say is that he has an extreme lack of sleep and wonders why you aren't tucked up in bed like all good transgenics."

"Couldn't sleep, new place," Nyx said with her usual economy of words.

"Flex said that you were recruiting for guard rotation, I'm a good shot."

"Good?" Dek raised an eyebrow questioningly.

"83 at five range."

Dek whistled. That was pretty damn good considering that he was only 91 at five range. "Do you have a partner?"

"I didn't realise that one was required." She stood loosely to attention, her back straight and her hands touching the base of her spine.

"Pix's orders, he says that just until the security leaks are plugged that no man is alone."

"I'm hardly a man," she replied icily. "I'm sure Flex would be willing to—"

"I'll do it."

Dek turned at Aiden's blurted words, cutting off her comment on her reliance on Flex, the once 'stud' of Manticore. "Excuse me?"

Aiden stood up. "Dek and I were just talking about me taking up a rotation; I was just about to go find a patrol partner."

Dek opened his mouth and closed it quickly as Aiden kicked him hard in the shin.

"Oh," Nyx blinked, her oriental features set in an expression of serenity belied by the twisting of her hands behind her back. She looked at the tall dark haired male with a smattering of unease. She may have grown up around attractive men by default, that didn't mean that she was immune to a particularly appealing one.

Especially when his mouth curved and showed two dimples hidden in his cheeks.

"If you don't mind, that is." Aiden gave her his very best smile and even Dek could feel the ice around the girl melt.

"I have no objections."

From his vantage point in the chair Dek's gaze flickered from the suspiciously eager Aiden over to the pink-tinged cheeks of Nyx and a slow, satisfied smile slid across his features.

So _that_ was the way the land lay.

He brought his hands up behind his head and settled back to enjoy the show. "Are you sure you aren't too tired?" he inquired solicitously of Aiden with a gleam in his eye.

"Don't be ridiculous," Aiden replied absently, not taking his eyes off the girl. "It wasn't hard work. I was just glad to help."

Dek bit his lip. Oh, this was too easy. "How about I give you sector eight on the north side, guard change at 5am?"

"Great, Nyx?"

"Accepted," she said with only a slight shifting in her posture to show her unease.

"Well, off you go then," Dek said cheerfully.

Aiden practically raced for the door to hold it open for her and she passed through keeping her eyes lowered. Aiden almost tripped over his feet as he followed her.

As the door shut behind him and Dek was left in silence he propped his feet on the desk and grinned at the ceiling.

With Zack and Dek both making Alec jealous of Max; Cece and her reunion with her babies father; Techie and Feen's relationship; Mole and Max and now Aiden's interest in Nyx, things would definitely not be boring around here.

He couldn't wait until Flex found out.

>>>>

Good transgenics may have been tucked up in bed, or otherwise engaged, but the world did not stop for megalomaniacs with delusions of grandeur.

Ames White stood in the cold night air, huddling his hands in his pockets and reminding himself that centuries of genetic breeding should have eradicated the feelings of cold like they did pain tolerance. After all, it would come in handy if there were another ice age.

He stomped his feet and saw his breaths turn to mist in the crisp air.

"Are you listening to me?" growled a voice.

White resisted the urge to roll his eyes. How could he help but listen to the feeble plotting of his 'superior' when he chose the most god-forsaken place in Seattle to meet clandestinely and yell at him.

The dull wail of ships at sea and the echoes of seagull cries as they settled down for the night mingled with the splash of water against the docks beneath their feet irritated White.

White was all for mysterious and covert meetings conducted under cover of darkness to expound on heinous schemes and conspiracies—it was why he was in the conclave after all. But government officials never seemed to hit the right tone, taking it from secretive to seedy with a few well chosen words.

Or not so well chosen as the case may be.

"Yes, sir," he hissed.

"Good, your job was to cover up this fiasco and keep it from the public not let some Freak hand the S.P.D's asses to them on a plate on prime time television!"

"You want blame? That ass Lydecker wants to preserve the Freaks, it's his fault it managed to escape." He smirked. "It's hard to escape when you have a bullet in your brain."

"Screw passing the buck, White, you were chosen to work with Lydecker on this operation, you have your orders and he has his. I expect you to work within them to do your job!"

"How am I supposed to do my job when my entire operation doesn't officially exist?" White growled forgoing the niceties due to rank.

"This is a disaster!" The man stomped like a spoiled child and White wondered how much he'd had to pay to get to the clearance level he was at. If he got there on merit alone then the human race was in worse shape than he thought and he already thought it was in the toilet.

"You want to contain the transgenics? Give me a free hand. The cat's out of the bag; we might as well acknowledge the fact that they're out there. If we enlist the public's support, this thing'll be done in a week."

He could see the idea wash over the man's expression before it closed down.

"We acknowledge _anything_, and it's over. Congressional hearings, subpoenas... No. We're gonna make this go away. We're gonna spin it, and spin it good. Luckily we now have the chief of police in our pocket. He's willing to give us the body of the transgenic and all the autopsy work, provided nothing like this ever happens again. You understand?"

White watched him, belligerent distaste evident in his expression as the man turned and walked away, confident of his acquiescence.

That was what irritated him the most of the whole human experience, their unwavering arrogance and dogged belief in their own unshakable place in the universe and in the food chain.

White leaned back against the hood of his car and regarded the retreating form of the senator.

They were so damn sure that they were the top dog, that nothing could ever take their place as masters of the universe. No wonder American's looked so damn confused in alien invasion movies; their perception of their own infallibility was prodded and couldn't withstand the scrutiny.

Thinking that way; it was only blind luck in most cases that allowed humans to come off victorious in those battles.

And with men like _him_ in charge it was easy to see why dumb luck would appeal.

"Yes, sir," he mocked with a sneer.

Just wait and see what would happen when the real masters of the universe take over.

>

In a truck not far from the dock, Otto Gottlieb put down the transmitter and looked up at Lydecker.

"That's all, sir."

Lydecker leaned back against the metal walls and regarded Otto thoughtfully. "Did that sound particularly patriotic to you?"

"No, sir," Otto replied carefully. "However you did know that Agent White had an alternative agenda."

"Do you think that is the end of it soldier?" he deliberately used Otto's previous position to drive home that they were all the same underneath- just soldiers for their country.

Otto had to admit that, by the sound of Agent White's voice, this was far from over and he had walked away from the meeting with the distinct sneer of someone who knew that he was going to gain and keep the upper hand.

"Sir?" Mendez said from his corner and Lydecker looked over to him, oddly expecting to see a 'dunce' cap on the eager man.

"Yes?"

Mendez cleared his throat before speaking. "The facility for that transgenic was right and tight, security detail was round the clock, there is no way that it could… that it should have escaped. The last person to log into the building was Agent White."

Lydecker perked up. "White deliberately released that animal into the city. Why?"

"You heard what he said sir, he wants to go public. Maybe he hoped that the transgenic would make it onto the news."

"Selective leakage?" Lydecker nodded at that.

It made a certain amount of sense. He had known that there was something off about White, bit it wasn't until he started to dig that he realised exactly how off he was.

His record was clean. Not just clear but squeaky clean, never so much as a late library book.

It was not just unheard of, but impossible, especially with White's attitude and arrogance. It meant that someone somewhere had the pull to eradicate any blemishes on that record.

It meant that he was a spook.

He had some hidden agenda that went beyond what Lydecker himself had been permitted to know and part of that was the reason he was finally caught out.

After discovering that none of the transgenics that they had sent had actually arrived at their intended destination raised all sorts of flags, and Lydecker gathered his forces for a full search on White and what they had uncovered thus far was more than unnerving.

Secret telephone calls, forged documentation, clandestine meetings—it all added up to something classically wrong with the scenario and Lydecker was beginning to wonder how far up it all went.

"White wants the transgenics dead," said Mendez, summing up what they had learned in five short words.

Lydecker raised an eyebrow at the succinct summary of their findings.

"So it would seem. But why?"

He regarded the two men that had suddenly become allies and felt a surge of triumph that he could transfer the loyalties of two men from White to himself. They were quite the coup and he knew that they would be necessary in days to come.

"Perhaps," he said. "It's time we called in reinforcements on this little matter. After all," he smiled savagely. "I have a whole facility at my disposal."

* * *

Sakura- Thanks pet. I am going to continue writing but whether it'll be this or another story I'm not so sure. There is still a lot I can do with these guys.

Aleja21- Cheers pet, please keep reviewing.

Toniboo- A calm reunion this time, but fireworks are in the offing. Logan is a dumbass- we knew this.

blueJean452- Cheers pet, hope Alec and Zack amused!

CrimsonReality- Cheers pet.

Caboodle- hey doll, that is a good idea. She wouldn't look to kindly on the ones who blew her home to kingdom come would she? I know that you can respond on the reviews page but not many people are aware and I think it will discourage anonymous reviews.

ChaiGrl- Thank you pet, keep reviewing and I will keep writing.

Mae- I know, poor Sunny and Chance, but it could be worse… just wait.

Moonlite star- I know-overused plot device, but how else was she supposed to met her brother? Max will confront Logan, possibly when she is a touch calmer though. I think she'd try to kill him in this current state of mind.

Mystic Fayth- hey there. Thanks for the kudos and somewhat random smile.

Kim- Ahh the return of the black book. I really should write it's own little story, I'm sure if it could talk…

Crazyvampire Slayer- I imagine that your reaction would be the same if you knew that Pix was in charge- total shock!

7sTar- Thank you angel, its nice of you to say and I thank you for taking the time to review, it means a lot. Supernatural hasn't aired here yet, so I'll look forward to that—even if he does look older.

Geminangel- Sorry for Logan? Hmm I think ill have to do something about that! Just say I was going to kill off a major character—which would you prefer? LOL!

Sigma1- cute little dance! Although that is a nasty cough, perhaps you should go and see someone about it? Poor Sigma, I do hope that you are feeling better soon. Apart from the hearing in one ear beinga bitt off after my nasty cold, I feel much better.

Meri24- Glad it cheered you up. You know it really cheers me up to get reviews, so thank you. Alec is not going to be happy—not for a long time. Mwhah hah ahh

RoxyRoo- Although he has had to grow up some, I think there is far more of the old Pix left that we will see again. He is such a great guy.

Lady Marauder- I like the idea of Pix in charge but Max is slowly taking the reins.

Grey daze's nirvana- Oh good, the male of the species isn't one that I understand or even like mostly. I say that with some authority after having three brothers and one father all under one roof and then being followed around by a puppy—grrr. He was surprised because he had only seen Max from far away and didn't recognise her when he saw her. When he heard Tara call her name it sparked the memory and he remembered the long hair and attitude.

Jenwin23- wow that must have taken some time! I agree with what you said about Alec, he is taking a somewhat lax attitude to things right now. thank you for pointing that out to me and I have taken steps to rectify that. He will be less show-Alec from now on. Gracias.

Elfie- I haven't been watching Buffy but its odd how the phrases stay in your head, even years later and become part of your vocab! What sort of curses would they have? They wouldn't really understand religious curses such as calling on deities, although I will have to think about that one. European transgenics? Hmm begs the question of where Snademan is now and what he is doing? I always thought he sounded kinda weird and being all daddy-like for Joshua- URGh.

Mrs- hey I appreciate every time you get the chance to review, pet. Many thanks. Good luck with Psych—just remember Freud was a pervert and Darwin disagreed with his own theory.

Black rose9- cheers pet, more reunions coming up soon. Enjoy them.

Elle6778- Actually Pix commanded the lockdown and Alec was frantic. And no, LOL, Alec and Zack are not going to get on very well. Imagine the fun when Ben returns too!

Angel of Darkness231- Well I gave you the reunion and Zack/Alec's reaction but as for the male fight… ooh I want one too now!

Pinkflipflop3- I want to know what the benefits of being a pink flipflop are! Pix and Biggs are tremendous fun when they get together. As for Zack/Alec and, of course, Dek/Ben—oh these things are going to come to a head and explode in a most satisfying way!


	18. 15 Seeking to devour

**A/N- the last chapter of this had over 940 hits but only 28 reviews-- am I doing something wrong? pouts>

* * *

****Chapter 15 Seeking to devour.**

It seemed that no matter where he ended up, it all came down to white walls and clean, tiled floors. The majority of his life had been spent in institutions like this and he had more in common with his 'kids' than even they knew. His father had been a military man and his childhood had been spent shifting from base to base. Once he was old enough, he signed up and spent his teenage years in barracks. A fast-track career led him from post to post until he was right there at the top of the food-chain, with only one minor blur on his record to show what happened when emotion took over from reason.

Lydecker strode with the purposeful tread that came from knowing that his place in things was on top, in charge and in the know.

No matter what anal-retentive little letter-agency squirts thought, Donald Lydecker was not a man to be messed with and he had had enough of Ames White's inept fumbling and secret agenda; which was why he was here now.

As his feet echoed down the halls he surveyed the contingency plan that the committee had placed into effect upon the unlikely—or so they had thought at the time—event of exposure.

They consolidated the main three facilities into one; Atlanta, Wyoming and what was left of Seattle had been taken to a secret facility in New Mexico and reconfigured.

Once the situation in Seattle had been made known, the idea was for those recalled by the signal to be taken to New Mexico and re-housed until they could set up another three separate sections, it was too dangerous for them to continue in the places that they had been and it was better for them to be separated than to have all his transgenic eggs in one basket—so to speak.

The fourth facility masqueraded as abandoned military base; truth hidden by subterfuge. Most who saw the base just saw a decrepit, rundown bio-hazard area and walked away, unaware that underground and in the huge metal structure laid one of the world's most sophisticated scientific laboratories and military training facilities.

Lydecker always grinned a little as he walked through the hallowed halls, wondering if the more sceptical conspiracy buffs figured there were alien experimentation going on behind the walls.

Close but no cigar.

There were no little green men here… Well, actually there were, but only those whose missions would include jungle warfare where camouflage with their surroundings was a must.

He turned a corner, ignoring the signs that proclaimed that he was out of bounds. There were no closed doors to him here.

What he was relieved about was the fact that there was air-conditioning in this god-forsaken place. The temperature outside had to be spiking at over a hundred and, in the short time it had taken him to get from his car to the base, he had broken out in a sweat and the dampness had set in around his collar. He may have been familiar with discomfort and primitive conditions over the years but that didn't mean he had to like it.

A locked door stood in his way and he swiped his hand over it, listening to the click that proclaimed that his palm-print had been successfully identified by the central computer. He leaned forward and seemingly spoke to the handle.

"Donald Lydecker."

Twenty seconds later the door swung open and he continued down the hall, feeling oddly proud of the security measures that had been implemented via his command.

He walked past the lab marked Alternate Remedies and continued down the long corridor absently wondering how many square miles of tiles there were here. The plain white and military grey walls were regulation in just about every military base that there was and he had grown quite fond of the pristine sanctity of the place.

Once he reached his destination he took a second to make sure that he was sweat free and unruffled; it was part of the persona that he had to play that it didn't do to look even the slightest bit in disarray. His reputation was one of almost inhuman robotic coldness and it was an image that had worked for him more often than he could count.

The two guards standing at the door stared impassively over his shoulder, although one did hold up a hand-held security scanner and waved it over his badge, waiting for the tell-tale bleep that would signal that he was who he proclaimed he was and had a right to be there.

Lydecker pushed open the door and stepped inside letting his eyes grow accustomed to the odd lighting that illuminated the genetics lab.

The set up here was far more sophisticated than it had been at any of the other laboratories and he took a moment to just watch the light play off the glass beakers and test tubes, the shine of the microscopes and centrifuges gleaming black.

"The latest batch isn't finished yet."

Lydecker turned towards the voice and raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

The man hadn't bothered to turn around to face him and the distain in his voice was patently obvious. "I haven't calibrated all the variables that came from adding the serpent DNA. Prehensile strength in the rear appendage isn't something that was high on my list of priorities."

Lydecker shrugged. "That part really isn't my department."

"No, you go for the after-care." He made 'after-care' into a filthy word as he spat it out.

The corner of Lydecker's mouth smirked as he baited the man. "Do I detect some hostility here?"

The stiffening of the man's spine was all the answer he needed.

"You may be able to scare the shit out of those kids, Deck, but I'll be fucked over twice from Sunday before you get anything out of me."

Lydecker ran his fingers over the top of the desk. "Now is that any way to talk to the man who rescued you, gave you a job and a government grant?"

There was a moments silence and then. "Tell me what you want, you sick shit and then get the hell out of my lab."

Lydecker ceased his taunts and straightened. "In your previous…position, you made some alliances that have suddenly become advantageous to you to revive."

Hands tightened on the edge of the desk until knuckles turned white with the strain of not turning around and placing those long fingers around Lydecker's throat.

"Get out."

"Your situation is tenuous at best. Perhaps now isn't the time to grow a backbone," Lydecker growled.

"Leave them alone, for god's sake. Didn't you and your sadistic Nazis make them suffer enough? Let them live a little."

"Their lives are dependant on my mercy," Lydecker grinned, fully aware that there were those who said he didn't possess that virtue. "My kids need to be home where they can be properly taken care of."

"Yeah, you took really good care of your kids. Don't forget, _sir_, I've seen the Wyoming files. I know exactly how well they were taken care of."

Lydecker held back a grimace. The one thing that he was ashamed of in his early work was the fact that he hadn't kept an eye on what had been going on in the Wyoming facility after the '09ers had escaped. He had been so busy trying to track down his 12 elusive kids that he never bothered to check and make sure that the one who had been left behind was doing alright.

The things he had read about in her medical file had turned even his stomach.

"We all have… regrets, and I will not make the same mistakes again. The children need to be brought home and you are just the man to do it."

"I won't do it."

"I wasn't aware that I gave you a choice."

The curse that exploded from his throat was violent and loud enough to rattle the test tubes on the desk in front of him.

Lydecker waited until the man ran out of English and American swearwords and started on ones in other languages.

He cleared his throat. "As informative and illuminating your profanities are; I think our time would be better spent on the road. I'll give you ten minutes to settle things here and then you are coming with me."

"Screw you and the horse that you rode in on," the man spat bitterly. "Go destroy their lives yourself; I won't be a part of it this time."

Brave words said, he turned and picked up a test tube, hands trembling with anger.

Lydecker looked at him. "When was the last time you spoke you your wife? Or child?"

"Bastard!" he exploded at the implied threat and the test tube in his hand shattered, spraying glass and liquid everywhere. "Damned son of a bitch."

"I assure you that not only were my parents married but my mother was a saint," Lydecker said, tongue in cheek. "Get this place cleaned up and pack your stuff… if you agree, of course?"

"Yes," _'you bastard'_ wasn't said but it was hanging in the air as the man grit his teeth.

Lydecker grinned maliciously. "Excellent, I'll go and sign your release papers. You'll be glad you helped."

"Like hell."

The door was opened and he was halfway out before he turned back. "Cheer up, if all goes to plan you'll be reunited with an old friend. You'll like that, won't you, Bill?"

>>>>

The crackle of static was eliminated by a hand smacking the side of the battered television as someone grew impatient with the lines across the Channel Eight anchorwoman.

She blurred for a moment and then resumed her spiel. "It's been six days since the brutal attack on police at the hands of the so-called "transgenic", police officials are still refusing to comment on the shocking footage exhibiting the extraordinary strength of the creature.

Yesterday the Attorney for the officers addressed the media at a press conference."

The picture showed a middle aged man with a supercilious expression on his face. "As soon as we find the parties responsible for unleashing these transgenics, we'll be seeking damages in the tens of millions."

Mole scoffed as he flipped a finger at the screen. "Yeah, sure Manticore will write you a big assed cheque for that, asshole."

Max sighed and turned to him from her position at the command control. "Can't you turn that crap off, Mole?"

Mole shrugged. "Wanna be kept updated as to what the ordinaries are making up about us."

Max rubbed the back of her neck and looked pleadingly at Alec.

"Mole?"

The scaled man turned to Alec with a question in his face and Alec gave him a heavily accented glare.

"Off," he commanded and Mole sighed, flicking the switch to mute the screen.

"So, what gives?"

"Trying to find room and board for everyone is hard enough without the blare of the idiot box," Max retorted as she scoured the numbers again

Alec stood behind her, rubbing her neck in an attempt to get her to relax. "Where the hell did all of these transgenics come from? I had no idea Seattle was this big."

Pix nodded and pushed another sheet of paper at her. "More arriving every day. Thirty today alone."

"Where in Renfro's name did they keep us all?" B.J. grunted as he surveyed the list, typing away on the keyboard as he did so.

"Basement," Joshua said with a sad face. "Lots of basement people."

"There couldn't have been that much basement in all of Washington State, let alone Seattle."

"Many were on manoeuvres when Manticore went down," Biggs said. "When word spread they refused to go back and many went AWOL, heading here. We just a got a consignment of fifty desert rats who were in Kuwait, all headed here."

"Logistically," Emma continued. "Manticore was running for years before they even started the X Series. That's over fifty years of genetic experimentation. Even if they only make ten transgenics a year that's still five hundred transgenics. We're looking at way more than a city full."

"Plus all the extra's we get from breeding programs and the…ahem, joy of release," Alec looked pointedly at Cece's stomach. She scowled at him and reached for the crackers again. "Even if they've not all hatched yet."

He dodged the cracker she threw at him.

"Gestation periods are all different," Gem offered as she shifted to get comfortable. "Some of the anomalies have birthing cycles of a few days, some, months. It's impossible to say exactly what our maximum capacity will be."

"Which makes it damn hard to organise supplies and allocate housing," Max finished.

"Not to mention the cost," Chance piped up, sliding in her seat closer to Pix.

"But right now, it's dangerous on the outside," Sunny added. "We can't go out like normal people and try to get jobs."

"We could head back to the casino," Biggs suggested. "Get a couple of transgenics and break the house."

"Amidst all of this panic and hysteria?" Max eyed him as if he were stupid. "The second you win you'll be checked for trangenicism and be slaughtered. Humans are going to use any excuse to eradicate those they don't like. Their daughter's dating a bad boy? Call him transgenic. A guy wins the lottery? Call him transgenic. A girl gets the best grades in the class? A guy wins all state? Never underestimate the stupidity of humans in large groups and with personal vendettas."

"Max is right," Alec agreed giving Biggs a hard look. "If we do this, we need to keep low key."

"Yes, mein fuehrer," Biggs muttered.

Max smiled slightly as Alec reached over to slap Biggs upside the head. It was almost like old times.

Biggs and Sunny sat side by side, with Biggs giving Pix and Chance the occasional glare. Pix ignored him in favour of running over ways that they could make money in what ways were safe.

Max was surprised but secretly so proud of the way that Pix had risen to the challenge and taken over leadership. Oh, she helped him, but the majority of the work was his alone and she saw no need to take over, even if she wanted to be in charge again.

B.J. sat at the computer, trying to set up a database to keep track of all of the transgenics in Terminal City. He had almost taken it as his own personal job to find out where people's friends and unit were and Max wondered if it were, in part, because of Anna.

B.J. has asked about her as soon as he walked in and Max had seen the way his face hardened when Pix told him about her mission to find and eradicate Ames White. He had been unusually silent and not even Jace, whom it seemed was a favourite of his, could elicit more than a few terse words.

Jace was currently standing by the door watching the proceedings with bemusement. Max had always liked her older sister but didn't really understand the woman who lived by the Manticore code as if it were the secret to eternal life. Their reunion had been awkward but genuine and Max had embraced her sister, glad that she had survived and even more appreciative that she had been there to help B.J., Zan and Emma.

Emma was sat by B.J. feeding him the names and designations that they had amassed so far and adding any additional information that she could recall from her brief time as transgenic psychologist. Her emotions had settled down somewhat once she was surrounded by her fellow transgenics and more than one person was glad that she was back to normal.

Zan sat behind Max as if she would disappear once he let her go, much to Alec's consternation. Their reunion had been far more enthusiastic and emotional than Max and Zack's, even though Zack was her first actual big brother. Zan had held her tight and ignored Alec's repeated requests for him to stop touching his girlfriend like that. Zan suggested an anatomically impossible way that Alec could leave and Alec had left it at that, recalling the way Zan had 'handled' the Trainers who hurt Max.

For her part, Max knew that Zan relished the contact he had with her, but she was studiously aware of not giving any encouragement to anything other than familial feelings.

Flex watched their interaction with his customary amusement, something he shared with Skye who was currently trying to get Galen to stop clinging to her like a limpet and interact with some of the other children. He steadfastedly refused, even going so far as to curl around her leg like a snake. Even Mole had laughed when Skye dragged her serpentine accessory into Headquarters that morning.

She had left the other four children to try to make their little house more habitable, much to Isacar's annoyance.

Cece was staring at the small boy oddly, probably wondering what her child would be like and sharing a plate of saltine crackers with Gem and Joshua whilst they tried to set up a sort of crèche for the huge number of expectant and newly born transgenics. Harley was helping by cleaning out a large building on the east side of Terminal city in the hopes of turning it into a school of some kind and had accepted the help of Jay, Kelpy and Zack who, to quote; "Had had enough of that mushy X5 sentimental crap to last him a lifetime."

Tara offered odd comments as she continued writing down lists of medical supplies and equipment that they would need for the hospital to function, whilst Carrot was mapping out sections of Terminal City that were in use, could be used and needed to be explored before use.

Luke, Dix and Techie were off to one side, talking in code about technology and electronics and acting like geek members of the dungeons and dragons set at a Xena convention, happy in the company of other nerds. Feen tossed in the odd comment but was totally lost in the technical vernacular, preferring to speak quietly with Mole about munitions.

Dek stared off into space, not really caring about what was going on at the moment and Max didn't have the heart to reprimand him for inattention. She missed Drew too.

Drew was the one woman who Max had felt close enough to call sister at Manticore, even more so than Jondy. Drew had understood her and the way she acted and the two of them had been as thick as thieves.

Her absence had been carefully avoided but her presence was sorely missed.

The monument to the fallen was underway, with more names appearing every day as people brought in reports of those missing and dead; the sad news underscored the fact that, although they were free, some had paid a terrible price for that freedom.

Max's thoughts flitted to Steve and Mets before circling to Drew, Coco and, of course, Anna.

Anna may have paved her own way and Max had nothing but pride for the woman who had taken the bull by the horns and taken the offensive. It didn't mean that she wasn't scared to death for the woman, though.

Other than that, all her family were here. Almost all.

"Where's Aiden?" Max asked suddenly.

That brought Dek's attention back to the group and he gave a sly smile.

"Oh, he's around. Enjoying the… night."

"It's day," Flex countered, curious at the expression of glee on Dek's face.

"Did I say night?" Dek asked innocently. "I meant the… chaos, yeah. The general chaos."

There was a moment of silence, then; "Are you on medication?" Cece asked.

"No." Dek shook his head.

"Shouldn't you be?" she continued.

Dek just grinned and placed his hands behind his head.

"Children?" Max called their attention back to herself. "The question is what to do with what we have."

Alec cleared his throat. "Uh, actually I have an idea… a plan, if you will."

His statement garnered everyone's attention at that.

Alec had been uncharacteristically quiet over the past few weeks. They were used to the 494 who wheeled and dealed in Manticore and who kicked ass and mooned after Max. The almost contemplative and silent Alec had made more than one transgenic uneasy.

Alec gave a ghost of his old grin and looked around at the expectant and hopeful faces. "I've been giving this problem some thought and have something of a solution."

"Oh?" Max faced him fully and folded her arms against her chest, watching him eagerly.

"During our recent experiences I have made one or two connections that are on the …seedy side," he grinned. "I worked for a while in a fight club."

"All silent for a moment for Brad Pitt," Cece said and closed her eyes, followed by Gem and Tara.

"Say what?" Max looked puzzled and Chance shrugged.

"Never mind, Neanderthals," Cece muttered and gestured for Alec to continue.

He gave her an odd look before carrying on. "During my tenure as cage fighter, I got in with a group of guys who wanted to start up their own club. They asked me if I knew any good fighters."

"Alec," there was warning in Max's voice. "Publicity is one thing that we don't need right now."

"I've thought about this, Max," Alec held up a hand to forestall her as she opened her mouth to protest. "The problem comes from keeping our strength from overpowering ordinaries."

"And showing barcodes," Tara reminded.

"Actually," Jace piped up. "The same laser surgery that people use for tattoo removal works for about three weeks. It's painful as hell but gets the job done."

"Right!" Alec leaped on the support. "So, if I offered these guys some support and fighters and we get two transgenics one on one, we'll not worry about losing it in front of ordinaries. It brings in the cash and gives an outlet for some of those who need the edge taken off."

Max watched him carefully. She didn't want to bypass his idea because it was the first time in an age that he had seemed concerned about things, but neither did she think it a very good idea.

"I'm not sure," she hedged. "Did these guys need a starting fee? And what about publicity?"

Alec shook his head, knowing what was wrong with Max. "No, these guys don't want that kind of exposure. The clubs have a kind of Guild thing going on and don't like free-lancers. It'd all be underground."

Max nodded thoughtfully.

"Also," Alec carried on. "I've made one or two calls and I think that I can get Normal to offer some of the kids jobs."

"Who's Normal?" Biggs asked.

Alec grinned. "Oh, you'll love him. He's like a 1970's reject."

"Who is in love with Alec," Max added. "Worships the ground his 'golden boy' walks on."

There were whistles and catcalls and Alec ducked his head. "Well, when you've got it, you've got it."

"And I'm sure Normal wants it!" Max leered and Alec turned white.

"Thank you, Max, for that very disturbing visual."

Mole shook his head. "Are they always like this?"

B.J. shook his head. "No, usually they are much worse."

"Jeez," Mole rolled his eyes and tapped his fingers on the table. "So what's the plan, Pixie?"

Pix held back a groan of disbelief as Dek's eyes lit up. "Pixie?"

B.J. looked like all his birthdays had come at once. "Pixie? Oh that is priceless!"

"Cutey little Pixie!" Dek taunted as Pix slammed his head on the desk.

"Oh, now they'll never respect me," he moaned.

"Hate to break it to ya," B.J. said. "But there was no way that _that_ was going to happen anyway."

"Shut up, Big Jerk," Pix shot back.

"Aww, little Pixie is getting mad!" Dek laughed.

"And you, Dek, or I'll wipe the floor with you." Pix paused, looking around. "Dek—floor, get it?"

"Yeah, honey," Chance looked embarrassed. "We got it."

"No one appreciates my sense of humour," Pix moaned.

Dek grinned. "Yeah, well, that's because, unlike you, we actually have one."

"You see what you started?" Flex shook his finger at Mole.

Mole just gaped and Cece started laughing at the dumbfounded expression on his face.

"I swear to god, your brother has some answering to do for bringing that back," Alec said, shaking his head as he tried not to laugh.

"Leave Zack alone," Max said, as she leaned into Zan whose arms automatically tightened on her waist.

He shot a grin at Alec over Max's head and poked his tongue out as Alec glowered and Flex snickered.

"See this," Feen said to Techie, "is why I don't want children."

Techie looked up. "What?"

There was a moment of silence as everyone looked at the clueless technician before giggles started.

Techie glared bemusedly at the guffawing transgenics. "What? What did I do?"

"Nothing," Max smiled at him. It felt good to laugh, somehow it felt as if she hadn't laughed that hard in ages and she missed it.

"Hey, you know what we need?" she suddenly said.

"Therapy?" Dek offered.

"Oh, like that's news," Chance snorted.

"I'm serious," Max admonished. "We need a recreation hall."

"Mighty Max, the misery of Manticore says we need a recreation hall?" Cece started. "Who invaded your neuro-system."

Max glared at Cece. "Some of us do occasionally like to laugh, Cece. Of course, some of us get our fun in other ways," she looked pointedly at Cece's stomach.

Cece blushed and held her tongue whilst Max continued.

"With all the hassle and death reports, with everything that's going on we really need a place to kick back and relax."

"I have just the place," Carrot piped up. "Sector 14 has a large cafeteria area that was left to ruin when they built the new cafeteria by the kitchens. We could gut the place and refit it out."

"Who'll be on that assignment?" Sunny asked.

"How about getting the kids involved?" Skye suggested. "Until we manage to set up some form of schooling they are all pretty much at a loose end. Loose ends make trouble."

Max nodded. "Do you wanna take that over, Skye?"

"I'll need a hand," she agreed.

"I have two," Flex opened his arms wide.

"And I'll need both of 'em, lover boy," Max stopped him. "I have some jobs that need muscle and, for obvious reasons, I can't ask B.J."

B.J. pouted. "Hey, I have muscle."

"Just not between your ears." Jace slapped a hand across her mouth and her eyes went wide as everyone looked at her.

"Hey!" B.J. tried not to look amused as the girl blushed, she obviously had forgotten herself enough to join in the banter and that, more than anything, perked him up after the news about Anna.

Max grinned at the embarrassed girl and was about to say something when she was stopped by the ringing of the phone.

She grimaced at it, knowing full well that the only one's who had that number were either on supply detail, working or Logan Cale.

The first two meant trouble was happening and the third meant that trouble was brewing.

Mole grabbed the phone. "Yeah?"

Zan laughed at Mole's telephone manner and leaned over to Max. "Do you think we should send him for etiquette lessons with Trainer Delaney?"

Max found herself laughing at the thought of their old elocution Trainer. Trainer Delaney had tried to instil in them the correct behaviours should they go amongst royalty, nobility or any situation where pomposity was the order of the day. He hated slang and colloquialisms and would have detested Mole with a vengeance.

"Who?" Mole growled. "What the hell is a Cale…oh, wait, it's the Eyes guy, right? Max," he held the phone out. "It's the nerd with the God complex."

"I heard he goes by Logan now," Tara quipped as Max took the phone, her shoulders shaking in silent laughter.

"Max," she said.

"Max, this is Logan."

"Yeah, we covered that," she rolled her eyes. "Was there anything else?"

"You've seen the footage of the albino transgenic who was killed by the cops?"

"Yeah," Max felt her stomach clench. The footage had been run almost hourly and each and every time Max had seen the scared face of the anomaly who really wasn't sure what was going on, it made her feel sick.

"Well, I bribed one of the officers for the footage—the real deal."

"Why?" Max frowned. "You can catch it for free on every single channel, Logan."

"Not this part," he replied smugly. "This is uncut footage from the surveillance droids and it proves that the cops attacked first. In fact the transgenic refused to fight until he had no choice."

Max's heart beat loudly in her chest. "Can you air it?"

"Setting up as we speak."

"Excellent," Max smiled, somewhat relived. "Thanks, Logan."

"No problem, Max. There was something else. You asked me to keep you updated on anything to do with Special Agent Ames White?"

Max had. She'd not told Logan everything about the Special Agent and his unhealthy interest in them, nor had she spilled what she knew about Sandeman and his twisted experimentation and the breeding cult. She had let a few hints fall free to see what Logan knew.

"I think there might be a connection between White and the transgenic on the news. I have hoverdrone footage that puts White at the scene."

Her hands clenched. "Maybe he was looking to make a bust?"

Logan's voice was dubious. "I don't think so. He just sat in his car and watched. In fact, he looked pretty pleased with how it went down."

Max frowned. Why not just capture and kill the transgenic, why bother with the footage?

"Doesn't make any sense. The government pays White to keep the transgenic thing under wraps."

"That's right, unless White's taking his orders from somebody else."

Max almost slapped her own head.

Of course, he was! That did make sense. He was trying to turn the public against them; of course he would utilise the escape of the transgenic to the best ability.  
She bit her lip, thinking deeply.

"I'll get the word put out soon," Logan was saying.

"Hmm, good. Thanks," Max replied absently as she put the phone down.

The picture was getting more and more complicated and she wasn't sure what the big picture spelled out.

If only she had more information.

"Max?" B.J. called. "There's someone at the door. Say's his name is Annoy?"

Max turned to see a pale, scrawny looking transgenic standing nervously at the door.

"Hi," she blinked as he kind of faded out of existence. "Uh, hello?"

"Sorry," he replied. "I get transparent when I'm nervous."

"Must make dating kinda hard," Flex joked and was promptly slapped by Skye for being crude.

"Annoy?" Max tried again.

"Yeah, listen I was told to report to whoever was in charge of Terminal Dump heap."

"You're from Anna, aren't you?" Feen sat up. "That was her pet name for the place."

"Oh," Annoy shrugged. "I thought that was its name."

Max gestured to the chair. "What have you got for us?"

"Is Anna okay?" B.J's voice was hard and everyone looked at him but he only had eyes for the man in front of him.

"Fine, a few bruises but she seemed okay," Annoy lied, the image of a bloody and battered Anna still fresh in his mind. But as much as he knew of her, which admittedly wasn't much after only an hour's acquaintance, he knew that she wouldn't like anyone to know of her weaknesses.

B.J. chewed on the outside of his lip and he nodded, settling back slightly.

Max eyed him, wondering if he would be okay. B.J. and Anna had always had an odd relationship. Half best friends, half deadliest enemies, no one was sure if they'd hug or hit. There were bets at Manticore as to whether the two of them would date and exactly how long it would be until a body was found.

"B.J?" Jace voiced her concerns with one word and he shot her an abstract smile, his mind still working away.

"Anyway, she asked me to pass this to whoever was boss." Annoy took a manila folder from his pocket. "Who's in charge?"

All fingers suddenly pointed to Pix who had been sneaking kisses with Chance.

He started and then pouted. "Damn it, which idiot left me in charge?"  
"I've been asking myself the same question," Biggs deadpanned, staring pointedly at the small love-bite on Chance's neck.

Pix poked his tongue out at Biggs and took the folder, opening it and scanning the contents. His jaw tightened and everyone was shocked to hear the growl emitting from his throat as he read.

"Pix?" Max questioned and he shook his head once as he continued reading before looking up at Annoy.

"This accurate?"

"If it talks of men in white coats and a god-complex poking, prodding and basically being Manticorian without the tact and gentleness that we were accustomed to as children, then yes," Annoy bit out, touching his arm.

"Show me," Pix ordered and there was not one in the room who would have denied him the request with that tone of voice.

Annoy brought the raggedy sleeve up and showed them the deep, raw scars that criss-crossed over the fore-arm, bisecting his veins in angry purple lines.

"Shh-it," Flex breathed.

"Hey!" Skye hissed motioning to Galen who was staring wide-eyed at the scars. "Children present, so watch the language!"

Flex winced. "Sorry, honey."

"Honey?" B.J. snorted. "She's got you wrapped around her little finger."

"B.J.- behave!" Skye snapped out and B.J. jumped.

"Yes, ma'am."

Flex smirked. "She's got you wrapped around her little finger too. But at least I'm getting laid!"

"Too much information, thank you!" Tara interjected with a shudder.

"Flex says you can never have too much information," came a loyal voice from near the door.

"Zeph?" Flex eyed him. "I thought you were helping them clear up?"

"I was," Zeph shrugged. "Four transgenics get things done quickly."

"Not that quickly," Skye admonished and Zeph smiled sheepishly.

"Okay, we got bored and then when Nyx went off—"

"Wait, Nyx went off?" Flex interrupted. "Where did she go?"

Dek sat back with huge knowing grin, suddenly enjoying the show. "Are you her keeper, daddy Flex?"

"No," Flex shot him a glare. "But she's not been too happy recently. Is she okay?"

Zeph frowned. "I think so; she mentioned something about a friend."

Flex turned to look as Dek chuckled.

"Something you'd care to share with the entire class?"

Dek licked his lips and spread his hands wide in surrender. "Hey, got nothing to say from here."

Flex eyed him suspiciously. "The day I believe that you have nothing to say is the day when I get too old for this crap."

"Language!" Skye hissed covering a rather perplexed Zeph's ears.

"Would you stop doing that?" Cece snapped, irritably. "The kid learned worse than that in common verbal, and even worse in the field. It's kinda irritating!"

"Like you, only more useful," Skye snapped back and, to her horror, Cece's eyes filled with tears.

"I'm sorry," Cece's tears bubbled over to the dismay of everyone in the room. "Pregnancy hormones make me crazy."

"It's okay," Skye waved quickly, watching as the droplets made their way down her face. "I was out of line, I apologise. Lots. Really. Stop crying."

"I can't help it!" sobbed Cece, not even noticing, in her distraught state, that people were quickly slipping out of the door.

"I'll buy you a cookie," cajoled Skye frantically.

Even Zeph looked sceptically at her for that and Skye had to shrug. "I've been surrounded by kids."

"Ahem," Flex coughed pointedly.

"You included," she snapped.

Sunny edged over and wrapped an arm around Cece. "Um, there there?"

Cece cried harder and turned her face into Sunny's neck.

"Mfatebeenpregt," her voice was muffled in Sunny's skin.

"What?"

Cece pulled away. "I hate being pregnant!" She looked around. "Where did everybody go?"

>>>>>

Nyx pushed her hair behind her ear nervously. She had been on patrol with Aiden last night and he had done everything to try to put her at ease. She smiled as she thought of the myriad of random conversational ploys that he had started.

"_So, if you could have any super-power, what would you have and why?"_

"_Would you rather be able to fly or turn invisible?"_

"_A luxurious palace with servants or a mud hut with family?"_

"_A trip to the Sahara or Iceland?" _

He was actually a little sweet when he had calmed down somewhat, she almost had the feeling that he was trying too hard to impress her. Thankfully he had relaxed somewhat and was far more normal today.

She just hoped that her cryptic "gone to see a friend" message was enough to throw her siblings off the scent. The last thing she needed was for them to come looking for her.

Aiden, for his part, couldn't seem to shut himself up. He'd winced at some of the stupid things that came out of his mouth when talking to the beautiful girl and was determined to keep his trap shut for the next ten minutes.

Nyx watched him out of the corner of her eye as they rounded the corner and headed towards the next street. Whilst on rambles, Aiden had discovered that there was a small playground and surrounding fields on the far side of Terminal City. As far as he knew the slums and housing searches hadn't made it that far out yet and so he had claimed it as one of the places where he went to think.

Brood.

All right, sulk.

The playing area was at least thirty minutes walk and was hidden between two dilapidated buildings, which looked about a heartbeat away from collapsing—probably why Carrot hadn't made it this far out yet.

He had decided to show Nyx the place in the hopes of getting to know her better, a task that was easier said than done as the girl was, surprisingly, painfully shy around men.

"So, are you always this articulate?" she said warily, half in jest and half just as something to say.

"I've noticed that you get kind of uneasy talking to me," he countered honestly. "I'm not sure what to say to put you at ease. I'm not going to attack you."

"I'm sure that you would regret the action soon enough," she said coolly. "I happen to be more than capable of taking care of myself and have for some considerable time now."

Aiden grinned. "Sure."

"I… I have to own that I am not used to males taking a personal interest in me," she pretended interest in the floor, scuffing her new shoes as she walked.

"I find that hard to believe," he said, looking her up and down. "I'm sure that guys must flock to you."

Nyx shrugged one shoulder. "I seem to frighten men. One transgenic asked me for a… date?" she waved her hand at the word, "at Manticore, but once he confessed that it took him three years assemble the courage to do it. I was understandably repulsed by his cowardice, rather than flattered at his effrontery."

"He must have been a wimp," Aiden scoffed.

Nyx looked up. "I unnerve people. I have been told that I am notoriously difficult to fathom. People do not know how to take me."

Aiden swallowed several replies to that, reminding himself that he wasn't Flex and she wasn't used to the innuendo that flowed between men and women. She may be sixteen but she was far more naive about such things than he had expected.

"Can I ask why? I mean at Manticore, yeah, we weren't really encouraged to have relationships but we weren't exactly monks."

Nyx bit her lip. "I had some… bad experiences with people when I was younger. It made me more cautious than was prudent for my age. I closed myself off from my unit, so I didn't have the same social issues as everyone else."

Aiden nodded, understanding that. He remembered everyone turning their back on Anna after the whole B.J. thing and imagined Nyx turning out much the same.

"You seem fine with Flex," he pointed out and felt his heart pound at the soft smile that covered her face at the name of her surrogate father.

"Flex cares. I don't know how and I don't know why, but he cares about what I do and what happens to me. It's… nice."

"Flex is a great guy," Aiden offered and she turned that nice smile on him.

"Yes."

He reached out and offered her his hand, wondering if she'd take it. She looked askance at it and he dropped it back to his side with a sigh.

"Sorry," she said somewhat miserably. "I'm no good at this. I can assemble an AK15 in under a minute, I can discuss 15th century literature to my hearts content, I can run a small country but put me in front of a male and I seem to regress to early childhood."

"I'll take things slowly," he promised and smiled at the relieved sigh that escaped her lips. "So how about you tell me what you got up to at the school Flex forced you to go to?"

Nyx smiled.

>>>>

Ames White had grown tired of holding his operation out of a tiny tent in the middle of no where and working with equipment that should have been scrapped around the turn of the century. He had fought long and hard for the position that he was in now and resented having to utilize less than perfect supplies. To that end he had moved the entire operation back to a CIA safe house and set up the latest technology in order to catch transgenics better.

He was currently looking over the footage that the hover drone was re-showing every hour of the freak that had attacked the cops, with a little help, of course.

White had held the stocky man in a private holding cell and told Lydecker that he was waiting for transportation to take him back to the base that they had agreed to drop them at. He had, quite carelessly, left the transgenics manacles unlocked when putting him in the car and had pretended to be as understanding as to let the man escape.

It had worked like a treat and now everyone knew about transgenics. He was looking for surreptitious ways to cement the idea in the minds of the populace and breed fear and contempt.

White looked up as Lydecker walked into the room, a tall black man following behind reluctantly.

"Who's this?" he demanded, annoyed that Lydecker could seemingly come and go without restraint.

"None of your business," Lydecker retorted. "I want to ask you who the leak is?"

"Leak?" White tried not to look smug. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"The fact that every channel seems to know about the transgenics isn't a clue?" Lydecker replied snidely. "The fact that they mention Manticore by name, a supposedly top secret establishment. The fact that they know about the X series and their barcodes. You have a leak, Agent White."

White shrugged. "We are maintaining plausible denial."

"How plausible is it when a transgenic is the headline?" Lydecker snarled, throwing a sheet of paper onto the table.

White glanced dismissively at the newspaper. "It'll blow over soon enough. We can put our own spin onto things."

"Like what?" the man behind Lydecker said in disgust. "The man was wearing a costume and the police attacked him for crimes against fashion?"

"Who the hell are you?" he snapped. "I don't need civilians telling me what to do."

"This man knows more about the transgenics than either of us." Lydecker strode over to the other side of the room and peered at the monitor that White had been so engrossed in. he sneered at the picture of the bald, stocky transgenic.

"Bill McClay, geneticist," Bill introduced himself.

"Special Agent Ames White, in charge of catching your mistakes."

"Recognise this one, McClay?" Lydecker interrupted and the dark-skinned man stalked behind him.

"Anomaly, I'd say third generation. Possibly in his late twenties, early thirties, contusions on his face and head leathery skin, strong musculature."

"Hey, we're not discussing your date here!" White piped up, sitting on the edge of the desk.

"I'd say worker drone, designed to do heavy manual labour. The leathery skin indicates high temperatures. We made a batch in 1988 to go into India where a temple was found and needed to be dug up. Took us until 1992 to get the mixture right. Judging by his age, condition etc. I'd say his barcode is in the region of M-234 to 541."

"M- 360," White said flatly no longer amused. "We figured the M stood for Mule."

"Close, M stands for manual, as in manual worker. X for the X series. Not every transgenic got a pretty face."

"Speaking of pretty faces…" Lydecker trailed off as Bill glared at him.

"I told you that I never kept in contact with 452."

"Call her Max," Lydecker instructed with a smirk.

"This guy knows 452?" White suddenly saw the potential behind the tired eyes and ragged clothes.

"His child was taken into hospital for a regulation blood test after she miraculously survived a disease that would have killed her. The blood test came back…odd, so they called the CDC, who called us." Lydecker ignored the snarl from Bill.

"You would have let her die. You had the capability of curing her!" he yelled.

"And yet you managed quite well, yourself. The girl was given a transfusion of transgenic blood."

"Really." He had White's full undivided attention. "What happened?"

"The girl was cured. 452's blood neutralized the virus and she went home happy and healthy."

White's mind spun. This could be a huge breakthrough for the cult. Transgenics were only as strong as their blood. What would happen if some antigen were introduced to their system?

It bore thinking about.

"So why have you brought him here if he doesn't know where she is?"

"Because," Lydecker said with a roll of his eyes. "He can get close to her when we do find her. He can talk to her and try to get them to come quietly."

"Come quietly," Bill started to laugh and when the two men turned to face him, he just laughed harder.

"May I ask what is so funny?"

"All this time, all this money and energy and focusing on them. Everything that you have seen, and done, and been through," Bills' eyes were hard, "you don't understand her at all. Max, my Max, will never come quietly. She'd die first."

White stalked over, like a lion stalking his prey. "Oddly, enough, I don't have a problem with that."

tbc

* * *

Thanks to all 37 people who reviewed this chapter. I answered your reviews through the reviews page as we have been ORDERED by Big Brother not to attend to them at the end of the chapter. rules and we obey.

Thank you all.

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	19. 16 Optional Extras

**READ I am not going to beg for reviews anymore. **

**If you review, however, I will update faster. **

**It's not a bribe, it's a fact. Reviews let me know how many people are still interested in the story and what they want to see.**

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Chapter 16- Optional Extras Techie's fingers were long and nimble and especially good at finagling small pieces of wire and manipulating them into position without the use of pliers. It was a skill that came in very useful when he was in the field and he had gained the reputation of being the only one nimble enough and quick enough to diffuse bombs without any problem or show of nerves. Of course, Techie would have said that after dealing with Feen in a bad mood, bombs were easy.**

But what no one knew about the resident mechanic was that he had quite the creative streak and actually enjoyed twisting wire and nuts and bolts into small sculptures. His hobby had been one way to keep busy and out of the way in Manticore and he had been slightly upset to leave his creations behind in the Manticore lab when it burnt down.

Of course, he was _slightly_ more upset that he had left family members there—he wasn't completely heartless.

Now that he had space of his own and enough bits of wire to keep him twisting until doomsday he was quite happy.

With bolts for the body, nuts for heads and fuse wire for limbs he was getting quite adept at making 'hardware' people.

Right now he was working on a complicated sculpture comprising of one figure made of nuts and bolts strangling another—he had decide to call it 'relationships'.

Techie bit back a grin as he thought of Feen finding his stash of 'hardware' people. She'd proclaim him some sort of reclusive freak and try to get him to socialise with people more.

He was hiding them very well.

One of the great things that he had discovered about heading the electronics team was that he got to delegate and had handed all of the parts that included dealing with people to Dix, leaving him to concentrate on the fascinating bits of wire.

See, electronics were easier than people. As long as they were connected properly and had a good power source they were happy and worked, and if something did go pear-shaped it was easy to find out what was wrong.

Unlike people.

No, people always wanted to talk about their feelings and emotions and actions. They wanted to dissect every action and conversation and analyze things.

And when something was wrong they wouldn't tell him. Oh, no, he was supposed to be some damn mind reader automatically knowing what the matter was and being able to fix it and, if he didn't know, then he was in for a world of trouble and that was something else he didn't understand.

"Sir?"

He looked up to see a short blonde transgenic carrying a tray with a mug of steaming coffee and assorted biscuits. His mouth watered for both the caffeine and the savoury snacks. The girl gave him a shy smile.

"I thought you might need a drink."

Techie blushed, a reflex action from talking to a girl that wasn't Feen. "T-thanks," he swallowed and gestured to the table.

She placed the tray down and stood with her hands behind her back biting her lip.

"Was there something else?" he asked kindly.

She flushed bright red and opened her mouth to speak—

"Hey, Sonea, don't you have an elsewhere to be?"

Feen stood in the doorway, her hands on her hips and an odd look on her face as she stared at the blonde like she was a nasty stain ready to be removed.

Sonea nodded quickly and, after shooting Techie another smile, walked off, her hips swaying as she edged past Feen.

Feen watched her go with narrowed eyes and a temper that steamed hotter than Techie's coffee as she rounded on Techie. "What was that?"

"Coffee?" he said nonplussed. "Did you have to yell at her? She was only being nice."

"Nice?" she spat, her eyes narrowing further until only a thin slit of black showed, giving her an almost demonic expression. "Is she nice often? Does she bring you coffee and biscuits and cake? Is that what you want, huh?"

_Oh, shit_. Techie thought. "Uh… I don't like cake?" _Is that the right answer?_

Feen relaxed slightly, straightening. "You just be sure and tell Miss Legs that, okay?"

"She didn't bring me cake. Just biscuits," he felt obliged to say, knowing, somehow, that he was digging himself in deeper but not sure why.

Feen glared at him. "Sometimes, Techie, I swear we aren't on the same planet."

She turned around and stormed off, slamming the door behind her like she was an extra in a western, leaving poor Techie perplexed and not just a little depressed about it.

"What did I say?" he mumbled as he slumped down in his chair.

"It was more what you didn't say."

Techie spun in the general direction of the voice and saw a teenaged boy sat on the floor in one corner, with his back against the wall and a book on his lap. From the way he was sitting, it was obvious that he had been there for some time and the fact that Techie hadn't even noticed him arrive made him more than slightly curious as to the boy's identity, let alone his cryptic comments.

"Who are you?"

"Isacar," the boy replied without taking his eyes off the book he was holding. He turned the page as if the conversation were over.

"What are you doing here?"

Isacar sighed. "I was trying to read. It seems to be a futile endeavour in this place as people have an unerring ability to converse at great length on the topic of nothing at all. Obviously the old adage that _silence is golden _bypassed this facility completely."

He went back to his reading without lifting his head.

Techie watched him for a moment before returning to twisting wire, shooting the odd boy furtive glances every now and then. The only sounds for about ten minutes were the turning of pages from the corner and the scrape of metal as bolts were manipulated into place.

"What didn't I say?" Techie finally asked after thinking on Isacar's words.

Isacar turned a page. "You didn't say that there was nothing going on with you and the blonde because she isn't the redhead."

"Feen," Techie clarified and the boy looked up, one eyebrow raised. "The redhead is Feen. The blonde… I don't know her name—did Feen call her Sonic?"

"Hmm," Isacar shrugged one shoulder. "I'm sadly reminded of the fact that I don't care. However much Feen may."

Techie frowned. "I don't understand."

"Feen walked in on Son_ea_ attempting to flirt with you. She felt threatened and so she lashed out at you for encouraging Sonea. She also questioned your awareness of the girl and you didn't refute the fact that you desired Sonea and so Feen is now infuriated with you."

Techie blinked. "I thought she was talking about cake."

"I know." Isacar went back to his book.

"How did you get all that out of half a dozen words?" he asked enquiringly, staring at the boy in fascination.

Isacar put his finger on his page, holding his place, and glanced at Techie. "I recently lodged with three women; you tend to pick things up when you do."

Techie was dubious. "I've spend more than fifteen years in a unit with at least six women and I have as much an idea now as I did when I was a kid—none."

Isacar regarded him thoughtfully, his blond hair falling into his eyes. "Women are not easy to understand but they are easy to handle."

"How?" Techie's voice was pleading.

"They are like… cars," Isacar decided after a few seconds. "In actuality they may be a S.U.V or tank, but secretly every single one wants to be a sports car; a top of the line, streamlined leather interior sports car. But even the girls who are sports cars feel the need to be constantly upgraded."

"Like computer software?" Techie asked, somewhat desperately.

"Ye-ah." The look Isacar shot him was caustic. "Now the S.U.V may want to be a sports car but it not only will never admit that, but it will resent the comparison. The secret to keeping it happy is to _treat it_ like a sports car. Wax it, keep its engine purring and continually tell it that you need no other car. Never suggest that it needs its oil changing or surface work done—even if it does. Never even joke about trading it for another model and just accept the fact that sometimes it is going to play up for no discernable reason. When it does, change its oil, buy new seat covers and apologize for not doing so faster."

"What do I do if I… uh… crunched gears?"

Isacar eyed him dubiously. "The metaphor only works so far, after that it gets creepy. Go buy Feen chocolate. Tell her that you hate blondes and that Miss Legs whose name you most emphatically do not know, nor would ever care to know, couldn't hold a candle to Feen. If she wants to rant, let her. If you want to shut her up," he hesitated. "Well, Flex always kissed Skye so she'd be quiet."

"Flex did that?" Techie perked up. If Flex 'the stud' did it, then it probably worked.

Isacar turned back to his book. "My advice would be to do so now, before she has the chance to get even more insecure."

"Okay," Techie bit his lip, still sitting down.

After a few moments, Isacar looked up again. "Do you want me to write it down for you?"

"No," Techie paused. "How are you with electronics?"

"Well enough to know that the circuit board over there is fried three ways from Sunday," Isacar said.

Techie stared at the board that Dix had been working at for a week. "It is?"

"Hmm," Isacar turned a page. "Needs three pins changing and a whole new layer adding before it's even halfway up to spec. They were part of a computer mainframe developed by Frellig United. You do know that they were a German manufacturer in 2005 and that they made two-hundred and thirty seven of the computers with built in security dispensers so that once they fried the only way to get them out was to send it back to them, thus ensuring continued service. Ingenious if they hadn't been caught trying to sabotage their competition with viruses in their software. They were charged and went bankrupt in a year. The funny part was that the courtroom computer crashed half-way through the verdict. Guess who their computer supplier was?"

Techie laughed and got up, giving the boy an approving look. "I think I've found my new assistant."

Isacar didn't look up from his book. "Good for you, let me know how it turns out."

"It's you."

It dawned on Isacar that Techie was serious and he placed his book down for the first time in the conversation and turned hazel eyes to the man. "Will I have to carry a pig's bladder over a field and deposit it in a net?"

Techie blinked. "It's not in the job description."

"I'll do it then," Isacar sighed and stood up, coming over to where Techie was working and picking up the circuit board. "I'll have this done in an hour."

Techie blinked. "Don't you want to finish the book?"

"The great thing about characters in books is that they are always there if you want to come back to them. People in real life are far less predictable and more likely to abscond if not properly restrained." He gestured pointedly at Techie. "Go, talk to the redhead."

Techie smiled as he headed for the door. He'd made a new friend on his own.

Feen would be so pleased.

>>>>

Alec watched as Max spoke anxiously into her cell phone. They had been talking about the suggestion he had made for the fighting scheme and workers at Jam Pony.

He knew that Max was pleased at the suggestion and glad that he was finally taking his place in the world that they were making, but she was understandably concerned about the risks that would be involved in such an operation.

And it was risky. There were more and more reports coming in daily on the news about the transgenics, telling the general public information that only those with maximum security clearance in Manticore should have had access to.

It was almost as if they were being deliberately hounded and exposed and they all had more than an inkling of who was doing the exposing.

Ames White—the bane of transgenics everywhere.

Alec looked up as Max hung up the phone staring preoccupied into the distance.

"Max?"

"It was O.C." Max bit her lip thoughtfully as she came over. "Said that she has something to tell me. Something important."

"Do you think she's okay?" Alec knew how much the woman meant to Max. Original Cindy had been there for Max when no one else was, she had been there to talk to Max and make her feel better; she had raged against arrogant men and had held Max's hand when she thought that all was lost with Alec.

They both owed her debts of gratitude and he could tell by the way Max chewed her lip that she was worried about the street smart sister.

Max shrugged at his question. "It didn't sound like she was in pain, nor did she sound panicked, just…" Max trailed off and shrugged. "I'm meeting her after she gets off work."

Alec nodded and held his arm out, pleased when Max leaned into his embrace and sighed as she inhaled.

"Thanks," she whispered so softly that he thought he had imagined it.

"Yeah," Alec kissed the top of her head and rested his cheek against the soft tresses glad that Max was prepared to keep to her promise of being less harsh with him. It manifested itself in small ways, nothing that anyone else could see but the little gestures meant the world to Alec.

"Uh, I hate to interrupt."

Max and Alec turned to the door where Luke was blushing furiously at their tender moment.

"What is it, Luke?" Max shifted back into pseudo- leader mode, standing straight and pulling away from Alec.

The trench digger shuffled his feet and kept shooting Alec odd glances.

Max frowned. "Luke? You want me to get Pix?"

"No," the man seemed torn as to whether to say what was bothering him and then decided to just go for it. "We have two transgenics at the front desk requesting entry."

"Passwords and barcodes?" Max asked, well aware of the variety of security measures that they now had in place to keep out unwanted attention.

"Both X-series, barcodes match ones in the database and they picked up the password from Manticore base as instructed."

Alec frowned. "So, what's the problem? Let them in."

Luke shifted uneasily. "Uh, we _would_, only um…"

The normally placid man seemed to be having some sort of internal debate, which he was clearly losing.

"Well," he ventured finally, "you'd better see for yourself."

Alec wasn't sure what was going on and the way Luke had looked so unsure immediately put him on his guard. Was there more bad news?

He let Max see the worry in his eyes and she nodded her own consternation. A small feeling of warmth spread through him as he realized that, once again, they were on the same page.

"Come up, slowly." Luke called over the banister and Alec reached under the desk for the small revolver placed there for emergencies.

Max nodded at his caution, knowing what he was thinking and edged for the door, standing a little way behind it as if to surprise whoever walked in.

It meant that Alec was the first to see Luke step aside but it was the voice that they both heard first.

"Sheesh, if this is how you treat friends then I'm glad I'm not the enemy. Want me to strip down so you can do a body search?"

"Maybe later," Max quipped as she stepped out from behind the door. Drew almost jumped out her skin as her friend appeared.

"Shit, Max!" she said as she grasped her heart. "You almost knocked ten years off my life!"

"That would regress you to B.J.'s age and you could finally be on the same wavelength as him."

"My driving ambition," Drew rolled her eyes and moved to pull Max into a half-hug.

Max reached for Drew at the same time and yanked her into her arms in a crushing embrace that spoke volumes about how she had missed the raven-haired woman.

Drew held on just as tightly, ignoring the fact that neither she nor Max was particularly of the 'hugging' crowd.

This was something more. It was a tactile reaffirming that they were still alive and still family.

As Drew closed her eyes she had the sensation that a piece of her that was missing had been suddenly clicked into place. There were still holes; and would be until she saw the rest of her unit, but for now it was enough to have Max here.

"Hey, girl," she said softly and pulled back to look into the eyes of her best friend. "Missed me?"

"Hell, no," Max shrugged her shoulders and stepped away with casual nonchalance. "Hardly noticed you were gone."

Drew smirked. "Fell to pieces, huh?"

"Broken hearted," Max rolled her eyes in response.

Alec stood up and came over gaining Drew's attention. Her eyes opened slightly and a smile covered her lips.

"Hey, Alec."

"Drew," Alec greeted and wrapped his arms around his old friend. "Where have you been?"

"Injured, incapacitated and, oh yeah, insane."

"Nice to know that nothing changed," Alec intoned and earned a poke to the ribs. "Ow! Seriously good to have you back, Drew." He rubbed his ribs. "How long are you staying?"

Alec's teasing grin faded as Drew's face grew pensive.

"Drew?" Max queried. "What was Luke going on about? What's the problem?"

"That would be me."

All eyes turned to the man in the doorway and two jaws dropped as he came into view.

He smiled sheepishly. "Hiya, Maxie."

"Ben?"

>

To say that she was surprised to see him was an understatement of epic proportions; like saying Noah's flood was a bit of a drizzle.

"Ben?" she repeated and took a stumbling step forward, halting inches away from the man who was the mirror of her mate.

He swallowed, hazel eyes staring at her with something akin to reverence.

Ben watched as his tiny sibling looked up at him with a faint smile hovering around her lips.

Out of the corner of his vision he could see Drew holding onto his twin's arm as if to stop him interfering in the confrontation happening in front of his eyes.

Ben disregarded them both, his attention on the dark haired woman in front of him.

She was exactly as he had remembered and more than he had ever hoped. The last time he had seen her he had been on the edge, ready to plummet to his self-destructive ways—one way or another. She had given him the courage to continue.

That day in the church, now almost two years ago, had been a turning point for him.

To Zack he had always been the irresponsible joker of the family, the one who was more likely to land them in hot water than to get them out of it and that constant disapproval and oppression had caused the well of self-loathing to spring up and choke him, causing his spiral of self-destructive behaviour to spin out of control.

He killed to feel better about himself, but the killing made him feel worse and so it went on and on, until Max stepped in the vortex and stopped it.

Her words of belief and support had changed the motivation of his killing. He had stopped hunting his prey and giving them his own barcode through some misguided need for penance; instead he hunted because that was what he wanted. No longer a punishment but a form of liberation. It was a way of assuring himself that he could go out without Manticore hanging over his shoulder, whispering in his ear that he was worthless, that he was expendable.

Ben had taken Max's words on board, the fact that she didn't judge him and even understood in a way that Zack had never bothered to even try, making all the difference to him and his sense of self.

No wonder that he loved Max to distraction.

A smile flitted over his face as he looked down at her.

"I'm here," he said unnecessarily.

"Hallelujah," muttered a voice from his left and he ignored the man with his face.

Max stepped forward again and wrapped her arms around his shoulders, squeezing him tightly.

"God, am I glad to see you!" She said her voice thick with emotion.

"Likewise," he smiled as she pulled back, the familiar cheeky grin an almost physical blow. "I told you I'd find you."

"That you did," she agreed. "How have you been?"

Ben ducked his head in a very Alec-like gesture and shrugged. "Good."

Drew cleared her throat. "I wouldn't go that far."

Max eyed the two of them. "The two of you were together?"

"Only briefly," Drew snapped quickly, blushing slightly at Alec's incredulous look. "And it wasn't like it was planned or anything. I mean, sheesh. What am I, wearing a sign?"

There was a brief moment of silence as Max blinked at Drew's odd behaviour and her bizarre defensiveness.

Ben smirked in amusement. "Uh, honey, she meant 'have we been staying together?' Mind—gutter."

Max raised an eyebrow at a furious Drew. "Honey?"

Drew put her hands on her hips as she regarded Ben. "Would you like me to kick your ass now, or later? Jerk."

Ben laughed. "She can't get enough of me."

"I doubt that," Drew replied icily despite her red cheeks and Alec nodded.

"I'd go with Drew. I've already had enough of you."

Ben turned to fully face his twin for the first time and let his eyes rake over them, cataloguing the differences he perceived.

"Don't you realize that there are enough people in the world to hate without you actively working so hard to provide another?" Ben asked and Alec's eyes narrowed.

"If your opinion mattered, I'd be crushed. As it is it's hard to feel bad about someone who has the intellectual capacity of lint."

"Whereas your sole contribution to the human race is to serve as a warning to others."

Max and Drew watched in uneasy alliance as the two men proved that there such a thing as hate at first sight.

Alec clenched his fists. "Why don't you shut your mouth and give your ass a rest, huh?"

Ben rolled his eyes. "Someone obviously flunked anatomy 101."

"Well at least you know your dentistry."

The two brothers eyed each other with barely concealed ire, their last encounter running through both their minds.

_They had stood in a church hall, pews running down either side in an odd parody of regimented soldiers and Alec had dropped down from the ceiling, brandishing a gun at Ben, demanding that he leave Max._

"_No. I need her," Ben had begun but Alec swung the gun in his direction. "Shut the hell up! I've lost enough because of you."_

_As Ben had stared at the familiar green eyes he realised that he wasn't the only one that needed Max; that loved Max._

"_Its okay, Maxie, don't cry." He turned to his weeping sister who realized that she was about to lose him again and kissed her eyelids, smirking as he saw Alec flinch behind her. "I'll find you," he promised quietly, not sure that she could hear him over the small sobs she was making._

_He pushed her away and walked up to the man that held his face._

_Alec had dug in his pocket and threw some cash at Ben. Acknowledging that Ben would find it hard on the outside._

"_Get out of town," he spat, "and for God's sake, stop the dentistry thing. It's creepy."_

And now they looked at each other with the woman that they both loved in front of them, her eyes darting from one to the other.

"Aren't you pleased to see me, brother?" Ben taunted.

Alec glared at him. "This is an excellent time for you to become a missing person."

Ben gave him a nasty grin in return. "Alec, right? Yeah, they told me about you downstairs. They said you were a great asset. I told them they were off by two letters."

"Another person fixated with my ass." Alec said disgustedly. "Go screw yourself."

Ben looked him up and down. "Sorry, you're not my type."

"Guys?" Max interrupted. "As fascinating as watching you argue with yourself is, can you not, okay? I have far too much to do to settle squabbles today."

Drew nodded, her mouth twitching with repressed humour as the two men almost snarled at each other.

"Uh, is everything okay?" said Luke's nervous voice from the doorway as he took in the two identical men staring at each other in rancour.

"Fine," Alec bit out.

"Great," Ben echoed.

"Oh, good," Luke grimaced. "For a moment I was worried."

"This is Ben," Alec said grudgingly. "My Manticore appointed twin."

Ben nodded in greeting at the other transgenic. "He's the part of the gene pool that needs chlorine."

"If I kill him is that homicide or suicide?" Alec asked Max who was having trouble disguising her amusement.

Luke just smiled nervously and backed away, ready to relay the latest news from Freak Central to the others.

Just when he thought that things couldn't get any weirder around here.

"Max?" Drew's voice was hesitant, almost as if she were afraid to ask the question that had been on her mind every day for the past six months.

"He's here," Max soothed, knowing exactly what Drew wanted to know and was rewarded when the breath escaped her body in one long whoosh.

"Shit," Drew breathed in pure relief and pushed her hair out of her face. "I've been going crazy."

"Dek too," Alec answered, finally taking his eyes off Ben. "At one point I thought we were going to have to restrain him."

"But he's okay?"

Max let the guilt she had been feeling over her actions with Dek sweep over her quickly and settle to a nervous tension regarding what Drew would do once she found out.

Someone had once told her that she shouldered the guilt of the world like a comfortable shawl and Max had laughed, agreeing that she had more than her fair share of it.

But this part was for something that she did do. Max, whilst she hadn't had sex with Dek, had slept with him and kissed him and he was Drew's boyfriend.

Max hadn't known that Drew was still alive but that was no excuse. Max didn't want to do anything that would jeopardize her relationship with her best friend in the world and was somewhat relieved that Drew had seemingly had her own relationship with Ben somewhere along the way.

If both Drew and Dek had taken up with other people, no matter how momentarily, it couldn't be too bad. Could it?

Would Drew be upset with Max and blame her or would she be okay with it?

Max twisted her hands together as she hoped that Drew wouldn't be too upset. Although she loved Drew, she was well aware that Drew had a temper shorter than many of Coco's dresses and, Manticore knows, Ben was a few lines short of a barcode.

Although when she thought it over, it was actually kinda funny.

Her lips twitched as she thought of the twisted relationship between her, Drew, Dek, Alec and now Alec's twin. Max had been with Drew's guy whilst Drew had been with Max's guy's twin, both of which irritated Max's guy.

All it really proved was that they both had great taste in men.

"He's fine," she replied and offered to go fetch him herself.

"No," Drew said decisively as she cocked her head to the left with an odd smile. "He's already on his way."

Max broke into a full fledged grin at the evidence that the link between Dek and Drew was still as strong as it ever had been.

Just as she opened her mouth to ask what Drew and Ben's plans were, there was a bang from the door and a small dirty boy raced into the Headquarters.

"Uh, hi," he said with a nervous expression and did a double take at the two identical men.

"Don't worry about him," Alec said at the boy's stare. "He's proof that even Manticore didn't get it right every time."

"Hi, can we help you?" Drew said imperiously as the boy looked even more perplexed.

"I'm rat, Street-Rat, and I need to talk to the person in charge. Pax or something?"

"Pix?" Max asked with her arms folded, leaning casually against the desk.

The boy's expression lightened. "Yeah and quickly. She said I only have like eight minutes to get him."

The whole room was suddenly on alert.

Who exactly wanted their leader and what for?

"Who sent you?"

"Never mind that," Drew started. "Pix is in charge?"

"I'll fill you in later," Max dismissed and turned back to the boy. "Rat?"

The boy shifted nervously, twitching like his namesake. "I was on the street keeping a look-see for opportunities when the phone on the edge of TC rang."

"You were checking for marks?" Ben said with barely concealed amusement. "Right outside the gates?"

Rat shrugged. "I answered the phone and a lady demanded that I get someone in charge to answer the phone in six and a half minutes. She said it was vital… no; imperative."

"Did you catch a name, before we go sending Pix into a trap?" Alec asked sarcastically, still smarting from the appearance of his serial killer brother.

The boy trembled under the forbidding expressions of four X-series. "I think she said her name was Anna."

It was if her name were a magical word and Max lurched to her feet from her position.

"Excellent, take me to the phone, Rat. You did good."

The boy smiled, showing teeth pointed like fangs.

"I'm going to check in with Anna and let her know that Annoy made it."

Alec nodded, effectively ignoring his brother. "What can I do?"

"Good question," Ben muttered.

Max shrugged and then bit her lip. "Your idea of the fight club. Go for it."

"Really?" Alec was surprised. Was she seriously considering the idea?

Max nodded, with a reassuring smile. "Do it, and talk to Normal as well. Just don't take Ben. Two 'golden boys' would make him wet himself."

Alec shuddered and gave Ben a dirty glare.

Max backed away with a smile, heading out of the door. "Fix Drew and Ben with a room, tell Pix that I'll need a meet and, for Manticore's sake, get me something to eat!"

"Yes, ma'am," Alec saluted. "Lay down and I'll fan you."

Max leered at him. "Maybe later."

"After my body search," Drew added as Max turned to follow the boy.

"Gross," Alec raked a hand through his hair. "I think I can set you up with a room in Oak Hall street, unless you wanna stay with Dek?"

"I'll need to talk to him first."

For the first time since he had known her, Drew seemed nervous about something other than exams.

"Hey, Drew," he said calmly. "Dek is fine… well, no, Dek is an ass. But he's missed you, kid."

"I've missed him," Drew replied. "But call me kid again and I'll make you wish they'd flushed your test tube."

Alec laughed out loud and leaned over to smack a kiss on her forehead. "That's the Drew I remember." He looked over at Ben. "Although I'm sure you had better taste."

Drew eyed him. "Well, I didn't go for his looks."

It was testament to the fact that Alec was so preoccupied with Ben that it took several seconds for the insult to register.

"Hey!" he said affronted and Ben sighed.

"Obvious Alec was at the shallower end of the gene pool."

"So says the one who had to go back for his hair gel," Drew rolled her eyes. "Dek is on his way, is it safe to leave you two alone?"

"No."

"No way."

"Absolutely not."

"No way, José."

"That's be no, then would it?" she said exasperated. "Fine. Just make sure that there is enough of one of you for Max when she comes back." With a wicked glint in her eye she added. "I'm not sure it matters which one."

"Hey!" was the united indignant reply and Drew grinned as she walked out of the office, closing the door to lean in the shadows against the opposite wall.

She wondered absently if locking Ben and Alec in one room together was a good idea, but her musings were proved irrelevant as the door opened seconds later to eject Ben who slammed the door and walked away without a glance in her direction.

She had felt the slight prickling against the back of her neck that signalled Dek was on his way and she forgot everything else.

Her hands felt shaky although when she held them out they were as steady as a rock. She could feel her breath coming faster and her heart beat louder in the fetid air that seemed to encapsulate Terminal City.

She was aware of her surroundings in a way that she hadn't been in quite some while. It was as if knowing that Dek was on his way was making her more alive; like she had only been half living these past few months.

A thrum started in the back of her neck, just below her barcode and she curved her hands into claws, her attention fixed on the far door.

And, like magic, it slammed open and a speeding blur erupted through the central command centre like a dervish, guards and transgenics alike scattering out of the way.

Whilst with Ben, Drew had seen her fair share of cartoons and had watched a pre-pulse one called Roadrunner and, whilst she hated the roadrunner with a fiery passion, the coyote had garnered her sympathy. At several points the coyote had been going full pelt, only to stop with a jarring motion that seemed to flash freeze the rest of the world into place.

This was what seemed to happen here.

Dek had been blurring so fast that when he came to a halt in front of the door she was currently standing in front of, it was with such force that she could almost see the skid marks on the floor and the rush of wind as the world settled around him.

He paused, his hand outstretched for the handle and she took the moment to imprint him on her memory. He was thinner than she remembered and his hair was longer, tangling around his shoulders now. It was also lighter and she made a mental note to use that to tease him about his vanity later on.

Dek waited with his hand outstretched for what seemed like hours while she took a mental inventory and gathered her courage.

"Hey, Dek," she breathed and he let out a jagged breath, turning so damn slowly she wasn't sure he was actually moving.

He faced her. "Hey, Drew."

His voice, so long missed and unheard for months caught at her heartstrings and she felt herself melt.

So this was what they meant about coming home again.

Dek was her home, no matter what else had happened between them this was her home.

But what if he didn't feel the same? What if those delicious blue eyes didn't want to belong to her?

What would she do if he had found someone new?

They were frozen and panicked ripped her heart as she gave him a small, uncertain smile.

"Oh, god, Drew!" he gasped and opened his arms.

Drew ran into them, tucking her head under his chin like she was made to fit there, and breathing deeply of his familiar and comforting scent. She felt him bury his face in her hair and breathe in the same way that she was. Her hands gripped the back of his shirt, tugging him impossibly closer; she needed to feel him.

Really feel him.

"Missed you," he mumbled and the tension disappeared as he worded what she had been feeling.

"Yeah, me, too." She felt the odd sting of tears as she said those words and knew that she was being incomprehensibly girly and not at all like herself.

She wasn't the kind to hug or burst into tears at the slightest provocation and it was kind of grating that this sentimentality had drawn moisture from her eyes.

She blinked it back, furious with herself and pulled back to look into Dek's familiar blue eyes.

She was understandably startled to see tears in his eyes too and her shaky hand touched his damp cheeks.

"Dek?"

"I—I—," he stammered, searching for the words but settled for drawing her close and bending his head as she tangled her fingers in his hair and raised her lips to his.  
The kiss was the same enacted all over the world of lovers who had come together after a period of absence—hot, heavy and full of longing.

Drew felt like she was drowning in his arms and she knew that this was where she had been longing to be for so very long now.

She made a noise of disappointment as Dek pulled away.

"No," she whispered and tried to pull him back, much to his amusement.

"I have to tell you something, Drew." Dek had been fighting within himself whether or not to tell her about him and Max, but it wasn't until he had been wrapped in her embrace again, after so long that he made the decision.

If he ever wanted a real relationship with his best friend he couldn't keep secrets from her.

And that was a big secret.

Drew took a step back and motioned for him to stop. "Before you say anything, I have something to tell you, too."

They stared at each other for a moment and Dek shifted from one foot to the other.

"Okay, um. Do you wanna go first?"

He was going to tell her, didn't mean that he had to do it right away.

Right?

He jammed a hand in his pocket and gestured for her to begin.

Drew took a deep breath.

"While I was gone, I was with someone," she paused looking at the way that not a flicker crossed Dek's face. "A male someone."

Nothing.

"We were together."

Nada.

Drew took a deep breath, unnerved by the silence coming from Dek. "His name's Ben and he's Max's brother…and Alec's twin. See I met him in Seattle and thought he was Alec and I was so glad to see him. But he kinda turned out to be someone else and we hit it off and he asked me to stay with him. We had a few settling issues, not the least the fact that he kinda went Hannibal Lector on me once or twice, but we just kinda… happened." Drew had been speaking so fast, twisting her hands with each passing second that Dek said nothing, that the majority of her words had come out as a blur.

Drew suddenly felt the need to clarify. "We slept together."

"I got that," Dek said stonily.

His gaze dropped to the floor and he scuffed his shoes on the hard stone floor, his eyes more shuttered that she could ever remember them being.

Drew reached out a hand but let it falter in the air, not sure if her touch would be welcome to him. She swallowed as her hand fell to her side again and she breathed out a long jagged breath.

"I didn't know you were alive," she whispered, "and he needed me. I'm so sorry, Dek. But for that time, I needed him, too. You weren't there."

She looked down, missing the way that he glanced up from under his long hair.

"I slept with Max."

Drew's head came up so fast, she stumbled back. "W-what?"

He shrugged sheepishly. "I have no right to be mad, or betrayed with you. I had no idea that you were alive and so I slept with Max."

Max? Max as in _Max_? Suddenly the odd look that had come into her eyes made sense. Max had slept with Dek.

Drew's stomach felt hollow.

Max?

Drew pointed at the office where she had left Max only moments ago. "Max? My Max?"

"What you have dibs on her? Coz I think that's Alec's domain."

"You and Max? You and MAX?"

Okay, she wasn't getting over this anytime soon.

Dek shrugged. "You and Ben. If it makes you feel any better, we only slept. No sex."

"Ah," Drew blushed suddenly losing the moral high ground. She might have known.

Dek grinned ruefully. "Right."

So Max and Dek hadn't actually done anything. Drew took a breath, thinking about this. For some reason she had been angrier at Max than Dek for what she had perceived a betrayal of friendship. She might have expected that Dek would find consolation elsewhere but not with Max, her best and first female friend.

It was so unlike Max to do that that Drew had, once again, felt her whole world going askew—just when she thought that it had righted itself.

But knowing that Max hadn't done anything like that, made things better in Drew's world.

"If it makes _you_ feel any better, I missed you like crazy."

Dek shoved his hands further into his pockets. "Oddly enough, it really doesn't."

"You hate me?"

"Until my dying day."

Drew gaped and then caught the mischievous look in his eye. She reared back and punched him. Hard.

Dek captured the hand before it could leave and used it to pull her into him, cradling her cheek with his palm and tucking one long strand of hair behind her ear.

"Forgive me?"

"Yeah," she whispered. "Forgive me?"

Dek grinned wolfishly down at her. "Might take some convincing."

Drew reached up and tried to persuade him.

* * *

tbc... 

Mega Thanks to everyone that reviewed. The next chapter was really hard and the only way I managed to get through it all was to re-read replies. So the next chapter is dedicated to all those who kept it going. Cheers and well done you!

Susanna Giboni- Check out my site which has pics of all the characters which should help keep them straight.

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Grey Daze's Nirvana

Ganko

A reader- Anna's gone off with Ralph- check out PO chapter 14.

Meri24

BlueAngel137

Werrieanna- Max is younger than most of Spec Ops but Chance is even younger. I think Max etc are 21 and Chance is 19. But don't quote me.

Toniboo

Angelina- Thank you!

Kim- Drew is back here. You haven't missed out. But it would make more sense if you have read PO too.

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K8- We shall not be denied! Thank you!

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Original Proxy

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Pixie Wildfire


	20. 17 Craving refuge

**Many thanks to all 40 who reviewed, you really helped, so this is dedicated to everyone who reviewed last chapter!**

**Coming to the end of it all now and boy, howdy it's an odd feeling.**

**There have only been one or two people who have submitted pictures for the last chapter but there is still plenty of time to do so if you'd like.**

**POLL-- WHICH CHARACTER WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE MORE OF?

* * *

**

Chapter 17 Craving refuge.

Lydecker glared at the television as a heavily made up Senator spoke to the press hounds.

"Since the transgenics escaped onto our streets several months ago, the crime rate has spiked twelve percent in the city of Seattle alone. In Portland, an unknown viral agent has claimed the lives of thirty-nine citizens. This is more than just a coincidence."

"Idiot," Lydecker shook his head in disgust. "Can you believe this inbred minion? He has no idea of the scope of what he is dealing with."

"These creatures are violent; many of them are diseased. This committee wants to know — the American people want to know — how many of them are out there? How do we contain the threat they pose?"

Bill watched as Lydecker gripped his hands into fists. He scoffed. "Isn't that what you think of them? That they're dangerous, you want to contain them just like he does."

"They are my kids." Lydecker's voice was cold. "I just want them back where they are safe."

"Safe from what? Being attacked? Did you ever see Max's file?" Bill countered angrily. "She is no safer in there than she is out here."

"The people responsible for what happened to Max have been punished."

"Suspended with full pay?" He laughed bitterly. "My heart bleeds."

"They were trained for war!" Lydecker shouted. "We made them to withstand things like that. Max is so strong because of what she went through."

"Adversity builds character?" Bill sneered. "Go sell your line to the media, Deck, you are as bad as," he looked at the screen, "Senator James McKinley."

There was a brief silence as both men seethed at the other.

It was broken by the crackle of static from the television and twin bands of red and blue fading across the screen

"This is an Eyes Only cable hack, lately every crime in our city is being labelled as one committed by a transgenic. Do not believe everything that you hear—"

"Who the hell _is_ this guy?" White said as he walked in. "And how the hell does he know so much about your supposed 'secret' organization?"

"I don't know," Lydecker said thoughtfully. "He does seem to have advanced information."

"Maybe even direct from the source?" Bill added quietly.

White rounded on him. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"If I were transgenic and the whole world was after me," Bill explained, "I'd go to the one person that champions underdogs. I'd go to someone sympathetic to my cause," he pointed at the screen, "someone that people listen to."

Lydecker and White turned to stare at the eyes on the screen.

"Finding Mr. Eyes Only has suddenly become top priority," White offered smoothly as normal transmission resumed itself.

"Why are you here?" Lydecker asked suddenly. "I thought you were checking out a lead?"

"I was," White sighed. "I've been subpoenaed."

"It was just a matter of time," Lydecker grimaced. "That fool McKinley wants to blow the whole thing wide open. What is your official position?"

White bristled. "That is none of your business. It's confidential, classified and—"

"Denial, huh?" Lydecker interjected smoothly. "Let me guess; maintain ignorance?"

"Shouldn't be too hard," Bill said under his breath.

"Officially, they don't exist."

"Good," Lydecker agreed. "Keep it that way."

White's whole demeanour stiffened. "I don't need you telling me what to do."

"Yeah, you're not his real mom," Bill scoffed and turned back to the screen as another red-faced politician came on talking about the transgenic threat.

Lydecker watched him carefully. "I think you have too much free time on your hands."

Bill froze. "Then let me go home."

"No." Lydecker smiled. "I have an assignment for you. Some way that you can help us."

"My mission in life," Bill said with obvious bite.

White smirked. "Newsflash. It is now."

Lydecker folded his arms. "I need an emissary to go to 452."

"I have no idea where she is," Bill retorted impatiently. "Like I've said a million times."

"Let her come to you."

"Shall I send telepathic waves through the air to her?" Bill asked mock seriously. "Oh, wait, telepathy was only for the tele-coercive team. Couldn't have the regular transgenics realise that you thought of them as meat."

"I was thinking more of the direct approach."

"Right," White scoffed. "Put a want ad in the paper. Wanted: one female transgenic, answers to 452. Please come home, Billy misses you."

"It's Bill, and screw you, ass-hole," Bill rolled his eyes at the suited man.

"I was thinking a little less subtle."

"Less?" Bill blinked. "You can be less subtle than this guy." He poked his thumb over his shoulder at White.

Lydecker merely smiled. "I managed to get hold of an old buddy of mine, dropped out of Military school and went into the media."

"No," Bill said adamantly when he realised what it was that Lydecker wanted. "No."

"A simple televised broadcast asking for Max to come back to you," Lydecker smiled. "Sentimental crap that women eat up."

"Max won't buy it."

"No, she'll realise that it's a threat. Come back or we kill Bill."

Bill froze. "What if she doesn't see it? Max was more an outsides kind of girl."

Lydecker grinned evilly. "Then you'd better hope that she window shops the electronics stores."

>>>>

Pix glared at the screen as if it were personally responsible for all the evils in the world.

It probably wasn't, but it wouldn't hurt to be sure.

It had been a bitch of a day starting with the fact that it was raining so heavily that the drains were overflowing and causing an almighty stench to flow through Terminal City, making it almost uninhabitable for those transgenics with a super sense of smell.

Secondly, there were more "breakthroughs" on the news about the horrors of transgenics and what they did to the populace, including a report about a supposed virus- carrier who plagued China town a few months ago. Carrot had grown white with fury when he heard that and had gone off to vent his frustration on the local rat population with a golf club.

It was cold, it was miserable, reminding him somewhat of Wyoming and he was stuck indoors.

Again.

And that was what was really the problem. Pix wasn't the all-American track star or the beefy European hitchhiker type, but he did love the outdoors in the way that most of those with feline DNA did.

He wanted to go for a walk without having to worry about hauling his coat around his ears to cover his barcode. He wanted to slink across the rooftops without having to duck and dive those stupid hover drones and, more than anything, he wanted to get out of this slimy, stinking, rat infested, dung hole!

He slammed his hands onto the keyboard and winced as something went crack. He looked around surreptitiously to see if anyone had noticed his wanton destruction of badly required property.

No one was paying attention to him. They were too busy monitoring what filth was coming out of the speaker, out of the news and into Terminal City.

Some of the younger children had heard the news reports and one little X8 had burst into tears at hearing that she was classed as a monster.

She had tearfully asked Cece if that meant that she had to sleep under her own bed and only the devastated look on her face stopped Cece from bursting into laughter at that innocent comment.

She had tried to soothe the poor girl but with more and more news items coming up, it was hard to shield them all.

Alec had finally come up with the idea of gathering all of the children together to help him form a school of sorts so that the children wouldn't forget the basic safety and defence training that Manticore had insisted upon. He was joined by B.J., Jace, Emma, Gem and Zack, who didn't mind helping out.

They had all withdrawn to a large warehouse in the centre of Terminal City and were spending the day clearing it out.

Max was out with her ordinary friend, O.C.; Carrot was attacking rats; Techie had found a friend and was trying to explain to him why circuits were better than people; Tara was setting up a medical centre with Joshua; Chance was helping Feen in the kitchens; Flex and Skye were taking their kids to find supplies along with Aiden who had volunteered to help; Biggs and Sunny were monitoring their supplies over at the weaponry base and he had no idea where Dek and Drew were and wasn't sure he wanted to go there.

That left him, alone, going stir crazy.

"Hey... Uh, Pix right?"

Maybe not quite alone.

He turned to see the slightly more unnerving version of Alec.

"Hey, you're Ben?"

Ben nodded. "You know, I actually remember you from Wyoming."

Pix blinked. For a moment he had actually forgotten that the '09ers had come from Wyoming. He had been so used to thinking of them as 'outsiders' that it hadn't dawned on him that he was from the same place.

"That right?" he asked curiously.

"Yeah." Ben sat on the edge of the table and raised an eyebrow at the smashed console.

Pix shrugged, trying not to blush as he pushed the board slightly to the left, wincing at the rattle it made.

"Are you destroying property again?" Zan asked, coming up behind the pair.

"Hey Zan, you know Ben?"

"Sure," Zan reached over and shook his hand. "Didn't you get fastest time in Escape and Evade in obstacle course D?"

Ben smiled. "Yeah, it was a breeze."

"I broke a leg twice on that damn corner by Lydecker's bluff."

"Didn't everyone?" Pix said rubbing his leg with the remembered pains.

"Not Maxie," Ben said loyally. "I think she was so damn light that she coasted around the corner."

"She was particularly tiny, wasn't she?" Zan said with a fond smile.

Pix laughed. "Max would kill us if she heard anything that even slightly reminded her that we thought she was tiny."

"Too true, small but vicious," Zan agreed.

"Anyhow, Ben was telling me that he remembered me from Wyoming. What do you remember and do I need to apologise for it?"

Ben grinned. "Nah. I think we were doing Escape and Evade in the out woods, behind C base."

"C-base," Pix grinned fondly remembering all of the tricks that he had pulled there.

Zan rolled his eyes remembering all the times that Pix got sent to Psy Ops and solitary for the tricks that he pulled there.

Ben grinned as he recalled the memory. "Trainer McCarthy, he really was a son of a bitch and made us do the course barefoot. Everyone had third degree lacerations. Then the day before we had Evac with those dogs, someone rubbed raw meat all over his pants."

Zan's face lit up. "Oh, yeah."

Pix recalled that as being one of his best ideas. He had been stuck on laundry duty for some mild misdemeanour and had found Trainer McCarthy's trousers in the laundry basket. He'd put them in the tumble drier with the left over sausages from lunch and placed them in the Trainer's room.

"I can still hear the screams," Pix said nostalgically.

"You were a damn hero, man," Ben laughed as he remembered the evil Trainer trying to get the dogs off him.

"Oh, I got so much better," Pix said as he thought of some of the things that he had got up to whilst in Seattle.

"I wouldn't have said 'better'," Zan interrupted recalling on more than one occasion when he had been the object of the brunette's pranks. "More sophisticated, maybe. More dangerous, definitely."

Pix looked at Ben and both nodded. "Better."

Zan rolled his eyes. "Fine, you wait until he dyes your eyebrows blue and then you say that its better."

"Actually, I have some ideas," Pix let the sentence trail off.

"You'll have to let me in on it," Ben said with a half-shrug and Pix was pleased to see him extending the hand of friendship.

"Sure." He looked around. "Of course, if you can get me the hell out of here, I'll be your slave for life."

"Claustrophobic?" Ben asked with sympathy.

"Stir-crazy," Pix said, rubbing his head.

"How would we tell?" Zan said, leaning on the edge of the desk.

"Hey, talking of crazy, I heard you were with Drew."

Ben stilled.

Zan laughed, noticing the way that the man seemed to freeze, waiting for something. "I am surprised you survived. She can be more than a little scary."

Ben hid a smile. "I can hold my own in the scary-stakes. Besides," he looked down. "She grows on you."

"So does fungus," Pix replied feeling sorry for the man, he exchanged glances with Zan. "But I wouldn't want it around all the time."

"I don't get a choice anyway," Ben said sadly. "She's back with Dick." He said the name in distaste.

"Have you spoken to him?" Zan asked kindly.

"No and I want to about as much as I want colonic irrigation."

"Ouch," Pix winced.

Zan looked away. "I know how you feel, man."

"Yeah?" Ben was interested.

"I like…liked a girl but she was hot on someone else. It sucked ass."

Pix knew that Zan meant Max and knew that the blond still had problems with Alec because of his love for the tempestuous brunette.

Zan shrugged. "I guess it is ladies choice though. You can't make someone love you."

"All you can do is stalk them and hope they panic and give in."

All three men looked at each other and burst out laughing.

Ben stared thoughtfully at Zan. "So, I'm guessing the girl was Max… right?"

Zan gave him a rueful grin, shades of his previous humour still on his face. "How'd ya guess?"

Ben shrugged. "The only dark haired girls I have seen around are Max, Drew and Chance. If it were Drew you liked, you'd hate me. If it were Chance—"

"I'd kill you," Pix added merrily.

"Could have been a blonde?" Zan said questioningly but Ben shook his head.

"You don't strike me as a blonde kind of guy."

Zan sagged slightly. "Yeah, it was Max."

"Was, or is?"

"Doesn't matter whatever the tense." Zan shrugged. "Max and Alec are pretty tight still."

Ben whistled, a gleam in his eyes. "I bet that sticks in your ass, since, you know, you knew her first."

"Hell, yeah," Zan agreed. "I was prepared to risk all out war in Manticore for Max. I wasn't sure which annoyed me more, the fact that Max only thought of me as her brother or…"

"Alec?" Ben offered. "Because he sure bugs the crap outta me and I hardly know the guy!"

Pix laughed. "Oh, wait until you get to know him."

"Then you can loathe him properly," Zan added cheerfully.

"He's not that bad!" Pix protested.

"So when the whole of Unit 8 decided to blame Max for Alec being in reindoc? Or when he and Max had that huge ass fight?"

"Which time?"

"Wow," Ben smirked. "I didn't realise there was so much dissension between Max and Alec."

"The trouble is," Zan confided, "that Max is a sweetheart and Alec is an idiot. He does something or says something and manages to screw it up spectacularly and yet she forgives him."

"Good thing Alec isn't in command," Ben's face was a picture of innocence. "Imagine having to take orders from him."

"He's second in command," they informed him.

Ben just looked at them with an innocuous smile. "Says who? Manticore? I thought you guys were beyond all that. I mean, I was great at Escape and Evade, but I have to say that it doesn't translate real well to the real world. He might have been A1 at Old 'M, but is he any use out here? What is he in charge of out here?" Be smirked. "Max?"

Pix and Zan looked at each other pensively, not sure what they were thinking, but each wondering if Ben had a point. Except for his recent idea of getting them jobs, had Alec been much of a 2IC in recent times?

"You know," Pix said hesitantly. "Sometimes it feels like Max is in charge here and _I'm_ the 2IC."

"I see that, too," Zan was quick to agree.

"Perhaps you need to take over some things then," Ben suggested. "Put your foot down sometimes. In the real world you have to speak up or be shouted over."

Pix rubbed his hands on his jeans and stood up straighter. Ben was right; he was supposed to be the leader here. Maybe it was time he did more than just pretend to listen to Alec.

"That means that I can get the hell out of this dump for some fresh air, right?" Pix asked hopefully at his two new friends.

"Fresh, in Seattle?" Zan wrinkled his nose.

"Sure, we can sneak you out of Terminal City right under their noses," Ben leaned over. "We have to be really sneaky."

Pix rubbed his hands together. "Sneaky is good, sneaky I can do."

Ben smiled. _Yeah, me too._

>>>>

Aiden grinned as Skye and Flex lifted Galen to look in one of the larger skips on the east side of Terminal City. They were on forage detail, trying to find anything that could be of use to the transgenics.

So far they had sent Isacar and Icarus back twice with things that could be used. Zeph was having far too much fun racing ahead and exploring all of the structurally unsafe buildings and giving Skye a heart attack every time she heard a creak.

Aiden was currently far more interested in talking to Nyx when the opportunity arose and trying not to let Flex see him doing it.

He could just imagine what would happen if Flex realised that Aiden had designs on the stoic Chinese transgenic and he liked his liver where it was, thank you very much.

He smiled at the girl at his side and she ducked her head, kicking at something on the ground.

"Hey, Aiden," Icarus said from behind and he half-turned.

"Yeah?"

"Were you really 2IC in your old squad?"

"Not in Special Ops," Aiden corrected. "But back in Atlanta. Yeah. Then when I made Spec Ops, Max had me as aide—hence my name."

"Cool," the blonde gave him an appraising look and raced off as Flex called her.

Nyx glared after her. "I thank Manticore that we are not related by blood. I think I would have been disassembled for mutilation of a sibling should we have been joined back there."

Aiden agreed. "She is slightly on the perky side, isn't she?"

"Perky isn't the word that I would have chosen," Nyx added dryly. "Although the word does begin with a 'p'."

Aiden just grinned. "They do say that you can't choose your family."

"An erroneous and irrelevant argument to use with transgenics since we have actually chosen our own family. Or had them chosen _for_ us," she muttered looking at the blonde as she danced around Flex.

"If looks could kill—" Aiden trailed off as she shot him a look.

"Thank heavens Manticore never tried to cook one of us up with that skill," Flex said as he wandered over. "What has Icarus done to provoke such distaste, Nyxie?"

"She breathes and I'm not convinced it's a good look for her," Nyx replied promptly.

Flex's lips twitched. "Well, because she offends you so much, how about you and Aiden go check the med complex over there?" He looked at Aiden. "If you don't mind?"

Aiden tried not to look triumphantly like someone had handed the cat the keys to the aviary. "Nah, we'll be okay. Shall we?"

Nyx nodded and headed over to the complex.

Nyx wasn't sure what to make of Aiden. He was attractive and quite clever. He also seemed very interested in her, which she was attributing to good sense.

The fact was, though, that he was not only older than her but he was also a member of Special Ops. Not just any member, but aide, which was almost third in command.

So why was her interested in a low grade X-series like herself?

She gave him a glance out of the corner of her eye and saw him doing the same. They both looked away quickly, a blush spreading over more than one cheek.

The medical facility that Flex had assigned them was deep within Terminal City and had the derelict look that the majority of buildings thereabouts had. It had seemingly been looted, if its ramshackle appearance was anything to go by, and there was a faint smell of something not quite right with the place.

The lighting had gone years ago and since it had few windows, Aiden was glad of his feline sight.

The hallways were filled with debris and abandoned trolleys and files, which scattered the floor like paper paving stones.

"Advanced Recombinant Genetics," Aiden grimaced as he read the title on one of the doors. "Sounds cosy.

Nyx merely smiled and continued down the hallway.

"Hey, look at this." Aiden pointed to a door that had a large symbol inscribed on it. "A winged pole with…eesh intertwined snakes?" he shuddered. "Grim."

"It's a caduceus," Nyx informed him. "A symbol used by doctors in the last few centuries. It was actually the magic wand of Hermes, the messenger of the Greek gods. He was said to be the inventor of magical incantations, conductor of the dead and protector of merchants and thieves." She traced over the engraved symbol with her fingertips. "The link between Hermes and medicine was said to have originated around the seventh century AD when he was associated with Alchemy—the idea of turning iron into gold through mystical means—Alchemists were known as the sons of Hermes or Hermeticists. Although there was some debate over the origins of the word since caducity and caduceus imply senility and temporality whereas the medical profession espouses renewal, vitality and health. In fact…" she trailed off, noticing for the first time that Aiden was staring at her in rapt fascination. "Lecture over."

Aiden pushed the door open and entered the medical lab, letting her get her equilibrium back before turning to her.

"That was pretty impressive."

She shrugged, unaccustomed to the praise. "Since Isacar called us the Greeks I thought it would be prudent to read up on some of the things associated with our namesake. The Greek gods were pretty fascinating."

"Yeah, I find the Greeks kinda appealing myself." Aiden gave her a knowing look and she felt herself fighting another blush.

Why the hell did he have the ability to make her feel like this? Was it something in his DNA that specifically gave him the skill to make her imitate a tomato?

She cleared her throat. "Right. So, anyway, if this is some big medical facility then maybe they have supplies that Tara could use."

"Maybe," he said, peering into a beaker filled with green gunk. "Or maybe Dix, or Techie, could use some of the electronic gear." He took a sniff and recoiled. "Urgh! Smells like Renfro's perfume."

Nyx shifted uneasily looking around. She was still uncomfortable with being disrespectful to authority. Even if that authority was dead and a bitch.

She spotted a locked filing cabinet and edged over, picking up a paperclip and twisting it into a long thin piece of wire. She set to work on the lock, listening out for the telltale click that would indicate that she had caught the locking cogs inside.

Aiden watched her work whilst he grabbed a duffle bag from his back pocket and started to fill it with some of the cleaner beakers and test tubes for Tara.

He shifted a pile of papers aside and exclaimed in delight. "Hey, new motherboard. Techie will be ecstatic."

Nyx frowned, even as the drawers clicked open. "Are you Special Ops are really as friendly as you seem?"

"Say what?" Aiden delicately wrapped the electronic device in the paper that covered the desk.

"I was aware that both Flex and Skye were reasonable close even before they found us and Skye was upset at the death of her brother. But I couldn't understand how you could all be so very fond of each other." Nyx tried to elaborate. "I was not…close to my unit at all and we were designated at a much younger age than Special Ops."

"Well," Aiden thought about it. "I guess because we all knew that we were the best in our fields, there seemed to be no need for competition in the way that we had in our old units. Plus, I guess, we were older so there weren't the unhappy social issues. That's not to say that we don't have our arguments." He winced as he recalled some of the major ones that they had over the years, especially Max and Alec.

"Skye and Flex are especially devoted. Is there anyone that you are especially close to?"

Aiden thought about that for a moment. "We have relationship doubles and friendship groups even within Special Ops. Max and Alec were always regarded as a twosome but Max and Drew, Max and Pix and Max and Zan were considered best friends. Dek and Drew were always seen together, even when Drew went off with Mets for a while. Emma and I always got on but she was too emotional once we got here so she formed friendships with Tara. Pix, Dek and B.J. were the terrible trio, full of jokes and witticisms. Carrot and Tara make the sweetest couple, along with Pix and Chance. Sunny and Biggs were never in dispute about their relationship although Techie and Feen came as a total surprise."

"Did they not get along before?" Nyx asked curiously.

"Not so much," he grinned as he recalled Techie recoiling in fear at the brash red-head's attentions. "She scared the crap out of him. I used to be 2IC to B.J. and Anna's squad and I knew that there was something there but that it would never happen. Coco mostly was best pals with Anna and Skye, forming one of the bitch cliques of Special Ops with Cece as runner up. Zan was hung up on Max but was fast in with Steve and Biggs and, I guess Dek and I are the best of friends."

"Who do you like the least?"

"Can't say I ever understood Cece. She irritated me."

"But you liked Emma?"

There was an odd note in her voice and Aiden smirked.

"Jealous?"

"No," she said quickly and then peered at him from under her lashes. "Do I need to be?"

Aiden let the bag he was holding drop and sauntered over to her in a lazy gait that had her heart racing.

"Now why would you think that?" he purred as he reached her. He placed one arm on either side of her head against the filing cabinet so that she was trapped between his arms.

He moved even closer and Nyx looked up into his dark eyes seeing something pass over them that she hadn't the experience to name. She could feel his breath drift over her lips, warm and comforting.

Aiden smiled against her lips as her eyes drifted closed and he angled his head to descend.

Nyx inhaled as their lips touched for the first time.

There were no explosions, no stars and no fireworks. His lips were chapped and hers were dry from the cold air outside. There were no birds singing or choirs playing.

It was simple; a touch of his mouth on hers.

And it was perfect.

His hand came up to caress her cheek and she leaned in, opening her mouth instinctively for more.

His tongue darted in, tasting and exploring, mapping out the uncharted territory and Nyx felt something inside her melt.

She wanted it to go forever.

"Have you guys found anything?"

Aiden spun away from Nyx so fast and was over the other side of the room before Skye cleared the door.

She looked slightly suspicious at Nyx's flushed face and Aiden's sudden interest in the ceiling.

"Everything okay in here?" she asked curiously.

Nyx nodded, not quite trusting her voice.

"G-ood," Skye looked from one to the other, a smile playing around her mouth. "Did you find anything?"

"Glasswork for Tara and um…files, mainly." Aiden cleared his throat, affecting a smile for Skye.

"Anything interesting in the files?"

Aiden wondered if Manticore had put any bloodhound in Skye's DNA.

"Anything at all?"

Or maybe a little more bitch DNA than any of the others.

"Just reading them," he said with an insincere smirk. He picked up the nearest file and flipped it open. "See; reading. Reading about… Shit."

His face fell into the most serious mask that Skye had ever seen on him and she lost the teasing smile.

"Aiden?"

He said nothing as his eyes scanned over the pages, flipping one and another over before reaching for another file.

The two women watched him as a frown appeared on his face.

"Aiden, for hell's sake, say something!"

Aiden placed the file down and leaned back against the bench.

"Let me get this all straight in my head, okay?"

"Okay."

Aiden began to pace. "Twelve thousand or whatever years ago, a bunch of men got together—probably drunk— and decided that human kind wasn't long to be the superior species on the planet. They decided that they'd help evolution along by forming superior sub-species through breeding those humans who had special abilities: athletes, intellectuals and the like. This we discovered through the files that Anna found—right?"

"Right." Skye picked up Galen who had wandered in after her.

"They formed a special club called the conclave and devised a test that people had to pass before they could be initiated into it. Snake bite type thing."

"Why snakes?" Skye said to Galen. "Nasty things."

"I assume because the cult of bunnies wouldn't inspire the same sort of reverence and fear," Nyx offered dryly.

Aiden glared at them. "Can I finish?"

"Go on," Skye offered magnanimously.

"Fast forward hundreds of years later and half want to advance with the use of modern technology and half don't. Max and Carrot found that stuff at Sandeman's place."

"Still with you," Skye said wondering where this was all going.

"One guy we know as Sandeman discovered that the conclave members all had a specific DNA or blood work matter that made them immune. He tested his son who was about to be initiated and found that he didn't have the gene and would die. So he tried to change the minds of the conclave, stating that pure chance was no way to start a master race. After some random comment he starts up Manticore, breeding the perfect race of people through scientific means. Military is prepped and interested in the idea of super soldiers and so fund his work. According to Anna he visits blood banks and approaches women with the gene he needs to surrogate the babies. Once the kids are born he takes them and trains them in the good old Military way. Okay?"

"With you so far."

"Here's where we get sketchy. The conclave knows and tries to get Manticore shut down. No dice. So the conclave strikes back and tries to off the competition—us. After the big fire and our being out, it's easier to try to destroy us. But we are faster and better and so, as part of their plan, they set the public on us."

"Makes sense," Nyx said, not wanting to interrupt his flow. "Divide and conquer through misinformation and hysteria."

"But we missed out on phase one: eradication through viral infection."

Skye shook her head. "Anna said that they were going to try something like that with her and a guy named Cyril," she pointed out. "Its not news, Aiden."

"Yes it is," he held up the file. "They based the virus on the specific gene sequence that Sandeman had uncovered, so that everyone who didn't have that particular gene sequence would die. They didn't think that Sandeman would dare inculcate the gene sequence in his… abominations. They didn't think he would betray them that much. This paper talks about their excitement at finding the right virus.

But the first trail failed; failed so spectacularly that they had to evacuate the whole city because of an escaped Bio-toxin, killing hundreds of ordinaries. The Pulse happened before they could finish the virus and when all systems shut down, it escaped."

Skye gaped. "Are you saying—?"

Aiden swallowed. "They were the ones to poison Terminal City and they did it because of us."

Before Skye and Nyx could take that on board, Aiden dropped the next bombshell, its echo resounding all around.

"And they plan to do it again."

>>>>

"Sir?"

Lydecker looked up from his files to see Otto and Mendez standing in front of him, their arms behind they back in a proper gesture of respect to the veteran and their superior.

"What can I do for you gentlemen?" he asked as he placed the papers down showing that he found them worthy of his time.

Otto cleared his throat. "We have something that we thought you should see, sir."

"Anything to do with our resident… complication?" his eyebrow rose quizzically.

"No, sir," Mendez said quickly. "This has nothing to do with him. It's good news, sir."

"Excellent." Lydecker rubbed his aching head. Between fighting through hours of paperwork and trying to anticipate what the transgenics would do now, as well as pacify and utilise Bill Maclay and keep an eye on Ames White, he was developing a 24 hour headache.

He just wasn't as young as he used to be.

He stood up and placed the vital papers aside. "What is it?"

The two men led him into one of the rooms off to one side and closed the door.

Lydecker was intrigued by their level of secrecy.

"After glancing over the notes that you requisitioned for us from Manticore," Otto began, "we have been able to anticipate, if not predict patterns of behaviour and have actually captured five transgenics this week."

"Which is far more than we were able to do previously," Mendez added. "As per your orders they have been shipped to… the location you specified."

Lydecker nodded in appreciation at their complicity.

"But we wanted to find some other way of discovering those transgenics who were more reticent at revealing themselves."

"Bring it home, boys," Lydecker asked for clarification.

Otto proudly turned to a small computer console on the table and showed Lydecker the white and blue figures walking around on it.

"What am I looking at?"

"It's a thermal imager. Fifth generation," said Mendez. "Very high sensitivity."

"Now tell me why I should care," Lydecker said, not unkindly.

Otto looked at him nervously. "As we were going over the files we discovered several areas that differentiate transgenics from humans. One of these was that Transgenics either have a much higher core body temperature or much lower. Higher because they have mammalian DNA or colder because they have reptilian DNA. Desert moles are required to have warm blood to adapt better to humid conditions and Arctic rats to stay for long periods in sub-zero temperatures."

Lydecker nodded. It had been one of the few parts of their basic genetic makeup that he was asked to specifically train and develop. Long hours on the outside in thin clothes enabled the transgenics to get used to extremes in temperature and to force them to use their body's own natural predisposition to the weather to adapt.

"This machine is set up to scan the courtyard of the facility," Otto said. "See, humans are outlined in pale blue because the settings have been altered to reflect anything that is not 98 degrees."

"Now we'll aim it at the enclosure where we're keeping an X-series we picked up this morning in Wisconsin."

Lydecker watched as the clear outline of a small boy came on the screen in bright white.

"Set the thermal imager at 98 degrees, point it in a crowd—"

"And it picks out the transgenics," Lydecker smiled. "You boys have earned yourselves a bonus. Requisition as many of these as you can and get them out ASAP."

"Yes, sir," Mendez said with a salute.

"Do we inform Agent White?" Otto asked. "He might try to use them for nefarious reasons."

Lydecker grinned. "Let me tell him."

Otto nodded. "Very good, sir.

The two men left to carry out Lydecker's orders and left him in the room staring thoughtfully at the imager.

>>>>

Pix closed the file and stared up at Aiden who returned his serious look.

"If this gets out—" Pix began only to be interrupted by Alec.

"We'll be scheduled for our own nuclear attack. They'll wipe us out."

Aiden had asked Pix to call an emergency meeting as soon as he had finished collecting the files informing them of the conclave's plans.

Pix had recalled everyone who wasn't in the field and he had read the report out to them all.

Special Operations, Unit 8 and the '09ers were all sat in the stiflingly small conference room looking more than faintly disturbed at what they had heard.

Pensive faces lined the table.

Despite all of their differences and the way that they had each been raised, at this point they were all united in their tribulation.

Well, almost all.

Pix frowned at Alec for interrupting. "Thanks for that, Alec. Glad we're all on the same page."

Alec blinked at the tone of Pix's voice even as Ben hid a smirk.

"Why us?" Cece asked rubbing her stomach obliviously. "Surely this points to the cult, right? Won't they be mad at them?"

"The cult will put a spin on it," Aiden filled in for her. "As far as Joe Public is aware, the conclave doesn't exist. We do. This file basically says that the conclave wiped out the humans by mistake in trying to get rid of us. I can't see them being so cut up about it."

"End justifies the means," Zack added sardonically. "Sacrifices and all that."

"But the conclave would have to expose themselves," Chance said nervously. "Americans won't stand for them. They oppose and try to destroy anything that calls itself superior to the US of A. Have you guys not seen Independence Day?"

"Americans will put up with anything provided it doesn't block traffic," Ben contradicted as he raked a hand through his hair studiously ignoring Drew and Dek who sat together at one end of the table.

She had tried to catch his attention when she walked in but he wasn't prepared to see her just yet, at least not with Dek.

"But a millennial breeding cult?" Dek folded his arms and leaned backwards on his chair. "Isn't that a little too…George Lucas, even for your average American to believe?"

"But we're not dealing with your average American," Carrot pointed out. "The files we found pointed out that the people who are manipulating the media and those in power are part of the cult."

"Not all the media," Tara said quietly.

There was a brief silence before several people groaned at the same time.

Max, Alec and Zack looked at each other.

"Eyes Only…again?"

"He is our best lead. He has a direct line to the people and, personal differences aside, they do trust him," Carrot sighed. "If only he wasn't such a pompous suck-ass."

Jay blinked. "What's a suck-ass? That one passed me by in common verbal."

Carrot just grinned and shrugged. "I made it up. But he is one."

"He's easily manipulated, which is what we want," Zack said brusquely. "He'll do as he's told."

"Is he a graduate of the Zack dog-school of training?" Ben scoffed. "Sit. Stay. Roll over."

"Play dead," Zack glared at him.

"You first," Ben retorted quickly.

Alec tried to hide a grin. At least he had found another person who disliked Zack as much as he did; pity it was Ben who he could stand even less.

"Guys!" Max held up her hand. "We don't need this right now."

Pix straightened shooting a look at Zan. "Max is right. But will Logan listen to you? Wait, _why_ would he listen to you?"

Max frowned as she thought about it. "You know, I never actually asked you how you knew Eyes Only. He swore that he had no idea about any other transgenic." She glanced from Jace to Ben and back to Zack.

"That's what he said to us too." Carrot and Tara nodded in unison.

"We scared him," Zack said with a nasty smirk. "Must have been all that talk about death and destruction that did it. Either that or Ben who threatened to carve him up."

"Huh," Alec looked at Ben with a new interest. "He has a habit of being intimidated and threatened by us."

Ben shrugged. "It was no more than he deserved. We wanted to find Maxie and Manticore."

"What?" Max frowned, something feeling wrong in her stomach. "You knew I was in there?"

"No!" Zack hurried to reassure her. "It wasn't until after you and lover-boy met Ben that time. Ben called for us all to meet up and told us 'bout you."

"Oh," Max felt that something inside her ease off. She had seriously thought for a moment that they had known that she was alive in Manticore and that they had left her there to be hurt and harassed by Lydecker and his minions.

It had been something that she had always feared. She knew that Jondy had seen her fall under the ice and so couldn't have known that Max made it out alive, even if she had been recaptured.

But there was always some part of her that whispered incessantly that she had been left behind on purpose and that they knew exactly where she was.

It was more than a slight relief to have that belief refuted.

"We went to Eyes Only to help us to find Manticore's base in Seattle," Zack continued. "He had surveillance photos of the area and satellite pictures to help us pinpoint likely areas where the new holding facility was."

B.J. frowned thinking that through. The '09ers had known where the Seattle base was. They wanted Max out. It didn't take a genius to put two and two together and make an explosion.

"So you found us?" Emma said carefully, knowing full well what every single member of Special Ops was thinking.

"How else would we have incapacitated the facility?" Jace said.

There was silence so thick and painful that you could almost taste the hostility present in the air.

"_You_ set fire to the facility?" Flex's voice was suspiciously calm but there was a hard edge that everyone who ever had the misfortune to see him annoyed recalled with uneasy clarity.

Ben and Zack exchanged glances but Jace seemed impervious to the undercurrents racing through the room and the sudden drop in temperature.

"Of course. We targeted the DNA labs to create the diversion and then we planned to break Max out."

Max crossed her arms over her chest as if defending herself against what she was hearing. "What?"

"Did you see them burn down the place?" Skye spat, her eyes hard and angry. "They torched it and us in it!"

"An unfortunate measure we had not anticipated."

There was a collective gasp.

"Unfortunate?"

"I'd say!"

"What the f—"

"What the hell gave you the right?"

"Who died and made you Lydecker?"

Jace blinked. "What is the problem? You made it out."

"Not all of us!" said Sunny with a shudder her mind turning over her last moments in the burning wreckage; the image of Mets' still hand imprinted on her memory.

"We had no idea that they'd implement the scorched Earth policy," Ben defended, folding his arms across his chest in a defensive posture. He wasn't happy to remember about that time.

"So that makes it all right?" Skye demanded. "You didn't know?"

"Hey!" Drew stood up, gaining Skye's attention. "Lay off 'em, okay. They didn't know… none of us could have known what would happen."

"Steve is dead! Mets is dead!" Skye shouted. "Ignorance does not excuse that."

"But we're out." Aiden interjected quietly. "I think that both Mets and Steve would agree that freedom is worth any sacrifice. Don't you?"

"I'd like to have given him the choice!" Skye choked. "It's all very well to say that Steve wouldn't have minded the sacrifice but he's not here to disagree, is he?"

Flex reached up and pulled her back down into her seat. "Exactly what _were_ you thinking?"

Zack's eyes were cold and hard. "We wanted Max out."

"She had the opportunity to go," Alec pointed out just as coldly, "and yet she chose to stay."

"No!" Ben leaped to his feet. "She stayed because _you_ made her. I was there, she was going to come with me but you blackmailed her into staying."

"Is that true, Max?" Pix turned to her, his expression unreadable. "Were you going to go?"

All eyes were on the brunette who stared them down. "I'd agreed to go with Ben." Max verified, feeling the gasps from Special Ops and Unit 8 as if they were knives. "He needed me. He was on his own and needed me."

For a moment it felt like she was back in Manticore with everyone staring at her for allowing Alec to be taken into Psy Ops. Her stomach turned and her hands clenched into fists as she stared into Pix's eyes.

Other than Alec and maybe Zack, Pix's was the opinion that she valued the most.

Maybe it was because he'd seen her back in Wyoming. He'd watched and been by her side when she had been thrown aside like garbage. He'd been there with her when they'd tried to kill her and he'd watched as neither of them tried to escape that day in the lake.

He knew and he understood what she had been through, what she had sacrificed, and he had never— NEVER—turned his back on her, not even for a second.

No matter what anyone else thought or did, Pix had been on her side, the first to defend her and she appreciated that more than she had ever said.

The deep blue eyes were deep and fathomless but slowly turned warmer until he nodded in understanding. He would have done the same.

The vice around Max's heart eased and she took a shaky breath, nodding her thanks.

Drew stood up and walked around the table to stand by Max, shaking her out of her reverie. "Skye. If Steve had made it out and one day turned to you and asked you to go with him, you would have gone. Biggs, if Chance had asked, you'd have done the same. If it had been Dek, I would have gone too. No one judges us for that."

"Loyalty counts!" B.J. maintained.

"Do you hate Anna?" Alec asked and everyone fell silent. "How about Coco? Neither of them are here."

"We were inside," B.J. said through gritted teeth. "That was different."

"You think I would have just left you all there?" Max demanded. "I know what was done to us all after the '09ers left. I knew that if I escaped too I would have to come back for you."

"Max the saviour," Cece mocked.

"Can it, Cece!" Biggs roared. "Is the baby messing with your already overactive bitch-gland? I swear one more nasty remark and I'll forget that you're pregnant and toss you outside myself."

"You and what army?" Cece retaliated.

"That'd be me," Zan spoke for the first time. "Lay off Max."

"You were an '09er too," Zack said, ignoring the others as he stared hard at Max, "in case you've forgotten."

"Exactly who are we pissed at now?" Emma said tearfully. "_I've_ forgotten."

Aiden walked over and placed an arm around Emma's shoulder getting a glare from Zack for his trouble.

"B.J.," Max said and waited until he looked at her. "Do you think I would have left you?"

He looked down for a moment, remembering all the times that Max had stuck by them, all of her chances to escape when she had remained. He shook his head.

"No."

"Look, maybe their plan was ill advised and not thought through," Sunny assuaged. "But the end result is here. We are out, despite the casualties. I think that Mets and Steve would rather have us together and happy, than blaming each other for their deaths. Do we want to divide on this? Where else do you have to go, who else will accept you? Be pissed at the '09ers, be pissed at Max. But when it comes down to it, who do you love, who do you trust? Are you willing to give that up for 'what ifs'?"

Her quiet words reminded them all of what they did have. They had each other; no matter their fights and arguments, they belonged together.

"Is it time to hug and make up now?" Zack asked sarcastically.

Alec, Ben and Zan all opened their mouths to shout him down but were pre-empted, by Emma of all people.

She lurched out of her chair and grabbed him by the arm, marching him out of the room before they could draw in breath and they all heard the sharp sound of a sudden slap, loud in the air.

Ben and Jace winced and Max bit her lip, expecting to hear Zack roar with anger.

Silence.

Pix shrugged. "Well, if that's all that over and done with, maybe we should get back to discussing what to do about the threat from outside."

"I still say Logan is the best way to go," Carrot offered, his eyes on the door Emma had vanished through.

"So, someone should take him the files and ask him…politely, if he'll twist the broadcast for us?" Tara suggested.

"Someone who _hasn't_ threatened him with bodily harm," Sunny requested with half a smile. "Or death and dismemberment."

"That rules out me," Ben said happily.

"And me," Max repeated sheepishly.

"Me too," Carrot scratched the back of his head in embarrassment.

Jace gave him a calculating look. "Really?"

Carrot shrugged, his face red. "He pissed me off."

"Yeah," Tara said raising an eyebrow at the woman who was staring at _her _man. "Some people do that."

B.J. touched Jace's arm. "We could do it?" he offered. "Although I have no idea where he lives or what he looks like."

Pix grimaced at the thought of the quick-tempered B.J. on an ambassadorial mission to save them. They really shouldn't let him out… out—outside!

"Hey, how about I go?" Pix said quickly with a half-grin.

Alec shook his head. "It's a risk to send you out, Pix. You have all the details of Terminal City."

Ben cleared his throat and Pix sat up. "Are you saying that I'd spill about Terminal City, if I were caught?"

"No," Alec was taken aback by the attack. "I just meant that you were valuable."

Max shook her head, a tender smile on her face. "We wouldn't want to risk you, Pix. What if White is out there?"

Pix counted to ten. "I'm sure that you don't mean to be patronising, Max, so I'll let that slide. But I'm leader of Terminal City… or do you want the job after all?"

Max shook her head slowly, eyes intent on him. "No."

"Then, as leader here, I say I go."

"I don't agree with that," Alec said, concerned about Pix leaving the facility with White and Lydecker on the loose. Actually he wasn't comfortable with leaving the job to anyone but himself.

"Objection noted, and disregarded," Pix gave him a short smile. "I'm going."

He gave Ben a pointed look from under his lashes and it took Ben several seconds to catch on.

"Yeah!" he grimaced at his slow uptake. "Pix should definitely go. Uh, Logan appreciates authority and Pix has the sense of humour thing that I think would appeal to him. Probably see him as less of a threat—"

Pix glowered.

"—wrongfully, but he doesn't know that," Ben added quickly. "Pix should go."

There was a bang under the table.

"I agree," Zan seconded with a quick smile, rubbing his bruised leg. "Pix needs the air—exposure—uh, Pix should go."

Pix rolled his eyes. "Thanks for the support, guys."

Alec looked dubiously at the three of them, his eyes lingering on an oddly triumphant Ben. "Well, if you really want to?"

Pix regarded Alec seriously. "Yes. Call it an executive decision from the top." Sensing that Alec really was concerned and wasn't just trying to push him out, Pix thawed a bit. "This is an Ordinary, okay, I'll be gone an hour tops."

"Have fun," Ben cheered. "Pick us up some beer."

"And grape nuts," added Zan, smiling at Ben who peered at him suspiciously.

"Are they actually made of grapes?"

Zan shrugged. "They just sound cool."

Pix laughed. "You know, I think the trouble with reality is that there is no background music. I think our conversations would go something like—"

"Bohemian Rhapsody?" suggested Ben.

Dek leaned over to B.J. "Do you get the feeling we've been usurped?"

"Yeah," B.J. pouted.

Pix just stood up, grabbed his jacket and the files, shoving them into the inner pockets of his coat. His step quickened as he realised that he would be outside soon.

"Are you sure you'll be okay?" Max worried her lower lip. "You will be careful, right?"

"I'll be fine, Mom!" Pix rolled his eyes as he walked out of the door. "It's just ordinaries. How bad can it be?"

Alec watched Pix walk out the door and turned to Ben. "Did you goad him into doing that?"

Zan stood immediately. "Oh, so Pix can't make his own decisions, right?"

Alec shrugged, not wanting to get into it with everyone around. "Whatever. I'm just saying he was pretty hostile."

"And you were _so_ supportive."

Alec glared at both Zan and Ben before stalking off.

"Do you think we made him mad?" Zan asked.

Ben shrugged. "You know what they say; if you aren't on someone's shit list, then you're not doing anything worthwhile."

* * *

Elfie- Who can we put Ben with then? Anna? How scary would that be?

Susamaroos

Alecygoodness22

Electricgurl

Moonlite star

Sweet tweety06- I'll forgive you. It's nice to see you again. How are your fic's going?

Lotamoxie

Blackrose9- No plans for a Bulli resurface right now, but we will have to see!

Kim- LOL, yeah I did post PO before I did this so it's kinda outta sync, but that makes it more fun! No one's dead…yet.

Mae- LOL, I made you squeal!

Allison lightning

Angel Of Darkness231

Rowenna Luna

JG- Hope it was worth the wait!

Toniboo

Mystic Fayth

A reader- Drew and Max get along so well it would have been a shame for the Dek thing to come between them. Glad it didn't.

PrecariousEm

Fluorescence- Techie and Isacar make such a great team, don't they?

Grey daze's nirvana

Ro- I take it you like Ben then?

Eden- Bena dn Alec seem to be a big favourite here. So glad. I love their banter.

Feenian- Hey babe! Wondered if you'd fallen off the planet or just off the ship! You want a happy ending? From ME! I thought you said that you had read them all? LOL. See what I can do.

SakuraAkira365

Abandon structure- so sorry that I almost caused you to die in horrific, horrible ways, but hey at least you like the story. I love your screen name btw. Love, Jerk.

Werrieanna- I really, really would like to say that this is it, but I have more than sneaking suspicion that this could go on…and on, and on and on. The teams will get funnier and yeah, Lydecker doesn't stand a chance!

Crazy-VampireSlayer

Elyra "Darkwynde" Haliwell

Spuffyshipper- I am so glad that you enjoy it so much. Supernatural is great isn't it? I love Dean and his sarcasm is just so Alec! Glad that you exhibited great taste in being a MA shipper, now all we have to do is get you away from the Spuffy-ness and you'll be great! (A devoted Spillowist!)

Original Proxy

Sigma1

Lynsi

Geminangel

Mely's the Name- LOL, so you want Alec to win? Hmm, I could see that somehow. Poor Ben. I love Tcehie and Isacar, I had no idea that they would work so well. I was actually thinking of Zeph and Techie, but Isacar seemed to be there instead.

Blueean452- You have a habit of falling out of your chair. Maybe you should get one with stabilisers? LOL.

Pinkflipflop3- Ahh, someone who loves BJ. I will have to have more of him in the next chapter then.

Meri24

Alea21

Princess Incognito.

also to those who offered to beta for me and my own excellent beta Itay!


	21. 18 Suffer a little

**BEEP- I'm sorry Fayth is not in to take your call. I am officially in hiding****. If you'd like to leave a message, please leave a review at the end of the story and I will get back to you. BEEP.

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Chapter 18- Suffer a little

The meeting broke up pretty quickly once Pix had made his escape and the various transgenics realised that they had things that they had to do.

Max and Alec decided that they'd take Pix's example and get some air and Alec wanted to ask Normal about taking on some additional workers.

The rest of the gang scattered to continue their assignments, and to make sure that Zack and Emma were all right, or at least in one piece.

As they filed out of the room Dek came and stood in front of Ben, blocking his exit with half a smile.

"Hey, Ben, can we talk?"

Ben looked at him, running the gamut of possible responses to that through his head.

He settled for the marginally polite: "No" and tried to walk by.

Dek sidestepped in front of him. "I'm serious."

Ben eyed him. "In that outfit?"

Dek smirked, amused. "And here I thought fashion wasn't one of your hot-spots," he looked Ben up and down. "Go figure."

"I was about to, but some dumb ass stood in the way."

"Ain't that a bitch?" Dek shook his head mock-sadly.

Ben struggled not to smile. He really didn't want to like Dek. Dek was right up there with Alec on his list of people he wanted to see eviscerated.

"You wanted something, _Dick_?"

Dek let that slide. "I just wanted to say thanks for looking after Drew."

"My pleasure," Ben leered, hoping to antagonise him. "Really."

Dek watched him carefully and then grinned. "You're cute."

"You're not my type!" Ben maintained, somewhat taken aback. "And shame on you for hitting on me."

Dek really struggled to hold back a smile at Ben's words. When Drew had told him that she had slept with some guy he had been both hurt and dispirited. They had spent most of the night just talking, explaining where they had been and what they had been doing and Dek had gained a greater insight into the man who had not only taken her into his home, but into his heart.

He couldn't fault the man's taste and had hoped to let the guy know that there were no hard feelings on his part.

He had expected to find a somewhat solitary, almost scary man who hated him on sight.

He hadn't expected to find a kindred spirit with the same sense of humour and attitudes that he, himself had. He hadn't expected to like Ben.

Dek pouted at Ben, his eyes glittering. "Tease."

"I'm not a tease," Ben said, tongue firmly in cheek. "I'm just a reminder of what you can't have." He shook his head quickly. "Look, pal, I really don't have time for any macho pissing contest. If I wanted to trade insults with a moron, I'd find my twin."

Dek laughed and inclined his head. "I think you'll find that Alec is good for many things—"

"Cannon fodder?" suggested Ben.

"I was going to say target practice, but yours works too." Dek regarded him oddly. "Great minds obviously think alike."

"So do evil geniuses," Ben retorted quickly.

"All I'm saying is that we could be friends."

And Dek had a feeling that they would be. Good friends.

"Are you a glutton for punishment?" Ben wanted to know. "I've been sleeping with your girlfriend."

"So have I." Dek shrugged. "As long as you don't touch her again I'd say it proves you have taste. Drew said you like Max, guess who she has been sleeping with?"

Ben was impressed despite his irritation at Dek's casual confession. "You? Not 49-dork?"

"49-dork," Dek chuckled. "I gotta use that one. Alec was a little off recently and Max needed a shoulder to lean on."

"Good shoulders?"

"Waterproof. It's the shoulder pads." Dek laughed. "Girls go nuts."

"Obviously."

Dek sobered slightly. "You seem to be a few soldiers short of a platoon yourself."

Ben found himself staring at Drew's boyfriend with growing suspicions that weren't welcome. "I guess you could say that our perceptions of reality may differ slightly."

"The thing is, I know that you took care of Drew when she needed it. I appreciate that, but I love her and have done for years."

Ben and Dek stood there in the silent room and weighed each other up.

He was sure that he loved Drew, well as much as he was able, but seeing the sincerity in this man's eyes he wondered if it had been love after all.

Whatever it had been, it had been powerful and real and Ben missed it. But he had seen the raw pain in Drew's eyes whenever she spoke about Dek and the fact that this man would go out of his way to make nice with someone that he should have, by all rights, wanted dead, was enough to make Ben think twice about his original plan to pursue Drew.

Ben sighed. "When you're done talking in circles, be sure and let me know, Dick, I'm tired."

"Drew's told me about you, all about you."

"I doubt that," Ben began, thinking about their chase on the rooftops and his odd habits of mutilating people.

"Don't," Dek said abruptly with a knowing nod. "No secrets here."

Ben swallowed. "Everything?"

"Let's just say that orthodontists have supplanted clowns as my nightmare of choice."

"Great," Ben raked a hand through his hair. He had wanted to pass himself off with some degree of credibility here. He was aware that both Max and Alec… and Zack, knew of his extra-curricular activities but Max loved him too much and Alec was too noble to say anything to anyone else. Zack was far too arrogant to say much of anything that he didn't have to. He had assumed that after what he and Drew had shared that she would be more circumspect with his secrets.

Obviously not.

"Bitch."

Dek's mouth lifted in a half-smile. "Yeah, but she's my bitch… in a non-prison movie kind of way."

"I'd like for her to hear you say that."

Dek shuddered dramatically and Ben laughed suddenly feeling better about all of this.

Dek was a good guy. He had been expecting to hand Drew back to some asshole like….well, like Zack, or Alec, actually.

To find that Dek was actually more like him than he was comfortable with was something of a shock and eased the resentment he had been feeling towards the guy.

"So, what is it you want from me, Dick? The old "stay away from my girl' line?"

"If I had to say that she wouldn't be my girl," Dek finished the line and the two men nodded approvingly at each other.

Ben raked a hand through his hair and scratched the back of his neck in a absent gesture. Did he want Drew that badly? Or was she a substitute for Max? Did he want to screw up a potential friendship over something that would have petered out soon anyway?

He looked Dek up and down.

"I really wanted to dislike you," Ben confessed.

"Go for it. Hell, I still hate you."

"Promise?" Ben said hopefully and enjoyed the solidarity as Dek grinned.

"Oddly that makes me feel better," Ben said.

Dek nodded. "You can't argue with a sick mind."

"At least not safely."

There was an odd kind of peace between them; a peace that came from knowing that they were surprisingly similar and had only the girl's welfare in mind.

Dek actually found himself hoping that Ben would get over Drew quickly so that they could be friends. He imagined Ben would be a great partner in Alec-bating.

"Maybe once you've gotten rid of your feelings for my girl we could hang out, go… drinking."

"Get tattoos?" Ben asked innocently and was rewarded when Dek shivered.

"Get real."

Ben turned to leave.

Dek thought about the meeting that they had just finished and the way that Ben had seemed to deliberately bait Alec.

"You know, I don't care much for Alec, either."

Ben froze and glanced over his shoulder. "Really?"

"Really. Let's just say that we've clashed more than once. He's a good guy, though. Handsome too. Not as good looking as me, obviously."

Ben's face split into a grin. "I'm sure we could do a pity drink or something."

"Thank you for befriending me, sir," Dek simpered mockingly.

Ben shrugged. "It's a thankless job. But I have a lot of Karma to burn off."

"Karma, calories," Dek shook his head as he looked at Ben's non-existent stomach. "We can make it a Lite beer."

Ben suggested something anatomically impossible and left Dek laughing in pure delight.

Dammit. He liked Dek; that wasn't in the plan.

When he walked out of the door the first thing he saw was Drew pacing outside, biting her lip.

She turned as soon as she heard him and her face flushed a little.

"Ben? Listen, I'm sor—"

Ben held his hand up thinking about Drew and the guy within the room who was probably listening.

Dek was an okay guy, one he could see himself getting along with— providing he got over Drew.

He didn't have very many male friends and could see Dek being one of the few.

Drew had also told Dek about some of his more unsavoury habits and that hurt. He dredged up the pain he had felt when he realised that she had spilled his secrets and he pushed it at her.

"You told him about me. Everything."

She shifted uneasily. "I needed a clean slate."

"So you let me get branded? Preconceived notions."

Drew protested. "Dek isn't like that."

"Newsflash, sweetheart, everyone is like that."

Suddenly he reminded her of the Ben she had seen for the first time on the lightning-lit roof, scaring her more than anything ever had before.

"I'm not," she reached for his arm. "I want us to be—"

"Friends?" Ben grinned bitterly. "I'll cut you some slack because of what we had. But friends don't betray each others secrets, Drew. Or maybe they do, I have to admit that it been a while since I had any."

"You never said that you wanted to keep it to yourself," she said, getting annoyed. "I told Dek because he wanted to know who you were. If that pisses you off then maybe that's your incentive to keep you hands out of someone's goddamn mouth!"

And there was his Drew.

Little ball of fire.

He laughed. "Maybe."

She was thrown by his acquiescence. "Oh. Okay."

"What were you sorry about anyway?" he referred to her opening words. "Obviously not about telling Dek."

"No, I'm sorry that they started in on you about the fire. Zack's idea."

Ah that. She was talking about when the others had blamed Ben, Zack and Jace for starting the fire and burning their family. They had blamed him for trying to get Max out.

Blamed him for needing her.

That was something that he would never, ever, apologise for. Seeing Max again was the best thing that had ever happened to him and he needed no deliverance and no intervention.

He'd do it again in a heartbeat.

Ben touched her arm. "You defended me."

She looked down at the floor. "Yeah, I did, I—"

"Don't," he said flatly.

And walked away.

>>>>

Pix took a deep breath, tasting some of his first free air since walking into Terminal City and assuming command.

He stretched and thanked his lucky barcode that his business with Logan hadn't taken very long at all.

The man had been more than thrilled to have some new information to impart, some new bad guys to uncover and some actual proof this time. He'd practically snatched the files from Pix's hand and shooed him out the door, throwing a sandwich at him with such absent-mindedness that Pix wondered if every single transgenic had stolen food from him at one time or another.

Pix was now taking the opportunity to have some well deserved alone time. It felt like he had been surrounded by people all day everyday and he was sick and tired of being answerable to everyone else, despite his being the alleged leader.

He was tired of having to come up with answers that he didn't have; of trying to be the leader that Max assumed he wanted to be and of pretending that he, who had never really listened in lessons, knew what he was doing.

He often wondered why he didn't just take Anna's advice and run as far and as fast as his legs could carry him in the opposite direction, but put it down to the fact that, at the time, Chance had needed him to stay more than she'd needed him to leave and now his family were there.

He couldn't leave them, anymore than he'd been able to forget them for that brief period that they had been apart.

Besides, he'd miss Max and Dek if he did go.

The thought of Max made him think of Alec and the way that Ben seemed to dislike him exceedingly.

Ben might have thought he was being surreptitious with his anti-Alec propaganda, but he didn't know that Pix had spent the majority of his life thinking outside the box and listening to what people didn't say.

It was obvious that Ben was much the same in being able to see what went beneath the obvious, and Pix had more than a sneaking suspicion that he knew Ben's agenda and why he was so against Alec.

Didn't mean that the man didn't have some valid points, Pix thought as he recalled Alec's behaviour. Alec had turned down the C.O. position of Terminal City then thought he could turn around and tell Pix what to do.

If he wanted to be in charge then why the hell didn't he just take the damn position of Pix's hands?

If he doesn't want the job then why couldn't he keep his mouth shut and let Pix get on with it?

Pix rubbed his eyes and attempted to put the thoughts out of his head as he tried to enjoy the fresh air.

>>>>

Otto waited silently as his eyes scanned the heat images that the machine terminal in front of him was putting out.

The thermal scan showed glowing figures walking about and he was looking for any signs of white among the ghostly blue figures on the screen.

"How are we doing?" he asked to a technician who was searching the other side of the city.

"Nothing yet," he answered as he touched the transmitter in his ear. "Positions report."

"Six, got nothing."

"Four, negative."

"Nine, ditto."

The technician frowned. "Position Twelve?"

"Control this is Position Twelve."

"You got something?"

Otto leaned in closer as the tech altered the image to show whatever the man in position twelve was scanning with his hand held device over the other side of the city.

It was the image of a lady outline in white with 100.2 degrees written under her.

"Think so." There was a brief pause. "Never mind. Just an old lady with the flu."

Otto watched as the ghostly white image of an old lady wiped her nose and shuffled along.

"Roger, Position Twelve."

The technician shrugged and looked back up at Otto. "It's slow going but we will find some, sir."

Otto nodded. He knew that this method was meticulous and slow going but it yielded better results than just expecting the transgenics to show up and offer themselves up.

Not that he expected many.

If he were a transgenic he would have gotten out of the city as soon as possible and even sooner than that if he'd known about White.

"What the hell is going on here?"

Speak of the devil.

Otto turned around. "Just routine surveillance with new methods, sir. Authorised by Colonel Lydecker."

When in doubt, pass the blame to someone higher in power.

Ames White's eyes narrowed. "Oh really. What new method?"

"Thermal imager," the technician filled in. "Transgenics have a higher core temperature. We should be able to differentiate them in a crowd."

White blinked and almost seemed wrong footed for a moment. "Whose bright idea was this?"

"Mine, sir." Otto said and White eyed him.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, Otto, but aren't you on _my_ pay roll?"

Otto swallowed. "I—"

Before he could attempt to extract himself from his precarious position, without revealing that he trusted his 'superior' as far as he could throw him, there was a crackle of static and the radio buzzed to life.

"Wait a minute!" said Position Twelve. "Check it out."

Otto, White and the technician, who had been eagerly watching the drama and not the screen, all turned back to the image.

There, clear as day, was a tall figure ambling down the street, his hands in his pockets and shoulders hunched against the slight chill in the air.

He was bright white against the screen and had a thermal temperature of 101.8 degrees.

"Copy Position Twelve. We see him. Stay on him."

"Where's Twelve?" White demanded, his mobile already in his hands.

Otto paused.

"Gottleib?" White threatened.

"Sector Eight. North side."

"Thank you," White said sarcastically. "All Units this is Agent White, I want full surveillance pinpointed on Sector Eight and a full Recall Team in five."

He switched off the phone and turned to Otto. "We'll be talking about this later."

He stormed off and the technician turned to Otto bitterly.

"So much for covert op."

Otto nodded ruefully and turned back to the screen.

>>>>

Pix yawned as he walked down the street, his mind twirling and feeling the breeze rush down his exposed neck. He realised that that meant that his barcode was exposed and he swiftly huddled back under his lightweight jacket, hoping that no one had caught sight of the telltale markings.

Well, no one was screaming about freaks, mutants and monsters so he was probably all right, for now.

Even if that garbage collector was staring at him oddly from the corner of his eye.

And the street vendor.

Pix's heartbeat sped up and his sixth sense began to prickle the back of his neck.

Taking a deep breath he inclined his head and filtered out all of the drone of traffic, the chatter of people and the animal noises and concentrated solely on any and all electrical noises.

There was a faint buzz from a nearby hover drone, probably three blocks away. There were a few fizzes from overhead electrical wires and crackles from a nearby radio.

He listened—_really_ listened— the way that Manticore had taught him and that's when he caught it.

Underneath all of the noise there was a faint hiss of short waves; the same kind that were used for high grade walkie-talkies that had no place on random streets of Seattle.

Without much conscious thought he turned intently to the source of the noise and his eyes caught the startled look of the man in the car, his hands on some high-tech piece of machinery pointed straight at Pix.

>>>>

The white image, on Otto's screen, stopped suddenly in the street and his head turned quickly, fixing directly on the man holding the imager. His head swung over to another of their plants and Otto heard another Position swear.

"Shit!" Otto responded. "He's made us!" He grabbed the controls. "Listen up, people, you've been made. All Units converge."

The Sector cop that had been standing to one side spoke up. "Control this is Position Nine, we are in pursuit."

"Copy that, Position Nine. Calling in back-up."

The technician shivered. "This is about to get ugly."

>>>>

He was being hunted.

All instincts in Pix screamed at him in that one instant, making his eyes almost glow green with the overwhelming animalistic impulse of flight or fight.

Street Vendor, man in the car, garbage collector, two cops on the corner and a hover drone ahead. He was outnumbered and had to get his ass back to base.

Now.

He clenched and unclenched his fists and turned on his heel, starting to run.

"Freeze!" yelled a cop from in front of him, aiming a gun. From overhead there was a loud buzz as the hover drone sped towards him, flashing something in his face.

Pix barely even spared the object a glance as he leaped to one side and disappeared down an alley.

>>>>

White growled as the police radioed in that they had lost the mark.

How much trouble could to be to catch one damned freak? Maybe he'd have to give them a hand.

He swore and grabbed his cell, enraged at their ineptitude.

"News desk?" he inquired, changing his voice as much as he could. He grinned as he emulated Ben's sweeping drawl. "Yeah, this is Derek Zimoya, I'm in Sector eight and this guy has a barcode. The cops are chasing him and I think the hover drone snapped a shot!"

He hung up before they could verify his number or ask how he had gotten theirs.

Now he knew that the news desk would feed into all of the hover drone footage and pick up a picture of the transgenic scum, getting his ugly mug out there on the news.

It would make it that much harder to scuttle back into the woodwork, wouldn't it?

He grinned as he tucked the cell back into his jacket pocket. "Who's the superior species now, huh?"

>>>>

Alec and Max were just enjoying the fact that they were together. Alec had been welcomed back to Jam Pony with something akin to hero worship and even he found that a little embarrassing. Normal was almost in tears at the idea of having his prize "rooster" back in the henhouse, let alone the idea of having more of Alec's fighter buddies similarly to be employed at his place of business.

Max almost mentioned the fact that Alec had a twin brother who might be interested, but figured that Normal's heart wouldn't take the news.

They had left Jam Pony with Sketchy's well wishes, O.C.'s hugs and a well of good feeling.

Alec was even brave enough to reach down and clasp Max's hand as they walked down the side walk, talking about everything and nothing.

"So, O.C knows that you are a transgenic?" Alec whistled. "That's a surprise."

Max grinned thinking of her conversation with the dark-skinned woman who stood up and told her straight up that she knew about Max's secret.

"It was a shock all right," Max replied. "But she was surprisingly okay with it all."

She cocked her head thinking for a second. "I think she was more annoyed at the fact that I hadn't told her, more than anything."

Alec nodded. "I see how keeping secrets can screw things up."

Max registered the odd tone of his voice. "Alec?"

"Did you see how Pix was with me?" he asked.

"How?" Max was slightly distracted by some gorgeous bike covers in one window.

"He was off," Alec frowned. "So was Zan. I think your brother has turned them against me."

Max shook her head absently. "Just because you and Zack—"

"I was talking about Ben," he interrupted and Max swung her gaze to him.

"Ben?" she said startled. "What does he have to do with Pix and Zan; they'd never met before two days ago. I hardly think he's gonna turn them against you. Sheesh, talk about childish."

Alec glowered at her. "Ben doesn't like me."

"Neither does Zack. Neither does Mole… but then I don't think he likes anyone much," she thought about it. "Except Feen and let me tell you how odd that is—"

"Max!" Alec called. "Not to be self-centred or anything but can we get back to talking about me."

Max shrugged. "So, Ben doesn't like you. You're hardly his number one fan but you're not turning people against him. He's your twin, Alec. He may be a bit—defensive, but he's not a bad guy."

Alec gave her a look. "He ripped people's teeth out for a living."

Max narrowed her eyes. "It's easy, let me show you how."

He held his hands up, humour returning to him. "I still think he's out to get me."

"So am I," Max said with a pretty smile.

Alec waggled his brows and gave a wolfish smile. "I don't mind your kind of 'getting'."

Max rolled her eyes. "Okay, so what was the thing with Pix?"

Alec thought about it. "He was snappy and kinda mean. Back in TC, he has never got nasty before."

Max looked down at their entwined hands. "Alec, I think he was probably annoyed at me. After all I was the one who was revealed to be a little runaway, again," she muttered despondently. "He was probably disappointed."

"No," Alec refuted. "It was before that came out."

"Are you saying I_ am_ a runaway?" she arched an eyebrow at him, letting him know that he was on thin ice and Alec laughed.

"Beautiful sunshine, Max, lovely day, you wanna start a fight?"

"Do you think I'm a runaway?" she said squeezing his hand tighter until she heard the bones creak.

"Ahhh…no," Alec said wincing at the pain in his bones. Max gave a satisfied smile until Alec yanked her into a nearby alley and kissed her senseless.

>>>>

Feen idly flicked the channel, her feet draped over the edge of the command terminal.

"Boring, boring, boring." She sighed and tilted her head back to fix her friends with a baleful glance. "When are you gonna set me up with cable?"

Techie ignored her and continued twisting pieces of wire together.

"Dix?" Feen whined plaintively and turned to the monocle man. "Cable?"

The man didn't bother looking up. "It's on my list of things to do."

"Really?" she perked up.

"Yeah, right after complete surveillance of every sector, building a car and, oh yeah, world peace."

Feen pouted. "Mole! He's being mean."

Mole hid a grin behind his cigar. "Give over, Princess, you have to do better than that, can't you do it yourself? What did they teach your pretty ass in Manticore?"

She eyed him. "How to kick yours."

"Bring it on," Mole laughed and Feen grinned.

She had finished her rotations and security detail and now she was looking for something to keep her occupied. Dix and Luke were monitoring screens. Techie and his new best friend, one of Flex's little kids, Isacar, were twisting even more twisty bits of wire together. Zan was currently sitting with Max's brother, Ben, talking in low voices and Feen was bored.

She flicked a few more channels before Zan reached over and grabbed the remote off her.

"Knock it off, Feen; some of us are trying to concentrate!"

Feen rolled her eyes and turned to Techie. "What'cha doing?"

"Calibrating," he answered distractedly.

She rolled her eyes knowing better than to try to get a longer answer out of him. She tried his new side-kick Isacar.

"What are _you_ doing?"

"Ignoring you," he answered honestly, tucking a strand of ice-blond hair behind his ears and pretending not to see her sticking her tongue out at him.

"Chance!" Feen said gleefully as her friend came over. "Save me from mindless boredom."

"You could always help me with the kids?" Chance offered knowing full well that Feen would rather be terminally bored.

"Allergies," Feen waved away the idea.

"Allergies?" Zan laughed. "To what?"

"Baby germs, infants, formula, kids in general." Feen shrugged. "Take your pick, really."

Zan's laugh was full and throaty and it felt good to hear it after so long.

Feen beamed and even Chance found herself smiling despite her unease at how long Pix had been gone.

"Has Zan finally cracked?" Flex asked from somewhere down on the floor.

"No, what are you doing here?" Zan asked. "I thought you were doing something with your brats."

"Greeks," Flex corrected. "I was just coming to get Isacar for lunch."

Zan peered at Isacar with interest. "Well, he's a little stringy. Tell Skye that she'd be better off with Cece's chicken soup."

"My sides ache with the sheer effort of merriment," Isacar deadpanned. "Cease and desist your humour lest I keel over."

"Smart-ass," Flex reprimanded fondly.

Ben just watched their interactions with bemusement. "You remind me of Max when she was younger."

"Little Max?" Chance laughed. "Imagine that."

Zan's eyes lit up. "Ooh, I have just realised that we have an expert on baby Max. You know what this means?"

Flex, too, had a glint in his eyes as he leaped over the banister to land by his friend. "Blackmail potential!"

The two men stared at Ben with beseeching expressions and he couldn't help but laugh.

A devilish look crossed Ben's face before he assumed an expression of innocence. "You mean Maxie didn't tell you about the teddy bear thing?"

Flex clasped his hands together in delight. "I have a new best friend!"

Dix shook his head, realising that he would never understand the X-series as long as he lived.

He flicked his attention back to the television as Feen clicked the channels again.

Click.

"Of course I do, Monty—"

Click.

"It's not your baby—"

Click.

"99 of household germs—"

Click.

"We'll find dad, Dean. But Jess—"

Click.

"We'll repeat this important bulletin again. If you see this individual, please alert the authorities immediately."

"SHIT!" Feen practically fell off her chair and all eyes turned to the screen.

"What?"

Feen looked frantically at an ashen Chance.

"It's Pix."

Chance's stomach dropped to her feet as a picture of Pix flashed onto the screen, his eyes dark and worried.

The anchorwoman didn't know or care about the distress she was causing several people in the forsaken city as she continued in her bland monotone. "This alleged transgenic is considered to be a dangerous fugitive and should not be approached under any circumstances. It is unclear if the suspect is armed."

There was a moment of silence before an explosion of noise erupted around the command centre with Chance in the middle.

Ben hurried over to the girl's side.

"Chance?"

"Call Alec," she gasped, her lungs on fire. "Please, someone call Alec."

>>>>

When Alec finally broke away they were both breathing hard.

"Max?"

He gave a smug smirk as she blinked rapidly.

"Hmm?" She reached for him again, slipping her hands into his back pockets and touching her favourite part of him.

It was a perfect moment in an imperfect world.

Of course, it couldn't last.

Alec's cell played loudly and Max held back a laugh as he let her go to reach for it.

"Alec?" she grinned, unable to hide her amusement. "Please tell me that your cell doesn't play the Harry Potter theme tune?"

Alec ducked his head sheepishly. "It doesn't."

"Liar," Max walked out of the alley to window shop as he answered his phone, following her into the bright sunshine.

"Yeah, Alec here." He rolled his eyes. "Hey Zan, what's up?"

Max's attention would have been captured by the suddenly straightened posture of her mate if her focus hadn't been on the screens in the window and the images flashing on them.

"Alec?" Max's tone was urgent.

"Hold on," he said seriously as he listened to Zan's words, his face growing more serious and his eyes darkening. "Where, when?"

"Alec."

"Not now, Max," he snapped. "Shit."

Max spun on her heel and grabbed him by the elbow almost throwing him into the window of the shop she had been looking at.

Alec was about to yell at her when he saw what she had been staring at.

Pix's face, clear as day on the plasma screen television.

"What did Zan say? Is Pix okay? Has he checked in? Is he on his way?" Max exploded. "Damn, what the hell was he thinking!"

Alec let out a curse as loud as he dared and grabbed Max's elbow in a crushing grip. He marched her back to the alleyway, their dispositions very different from when he had done so before. There was no thought of stolen kisses now as she yanked her arm out of his grip.

"Where the hell is he?" she hissed, her eyes wild.

"Zan said that he was on his way back from Logan's."

"Sector Eight," Max said and went to move off but he caught her hand.

"Max, Max?"

Max couldn't see the blatant murder that was written on her face, but Alec could and for one of the only times in his life, he was scared of Max. Her eyes reminded him of tigers just before they pounced, pure black but for slivers of flecked gold. Her teeth were somehow more pronounced; although that could have been the way her lips were curled back in a feral snarl.

Her hands were curled into claws and she looked every inch the feline that she was taken from.

"What?" she practically yelled. "We have to go find him!"

"And we will," Alec soothed in the kind of tone that Max associated with someone trying to tame a wild animal. "But if you out in public looking like that. People. Will. Kill. You."

Max visibly shook from head to toe, her whole body trembling with the effort to calm down.

"Calm down, baby," he shushed and stroked her hair. "We'll find him, I promise."

There was something about the way that Alec said that that made Max suck in huge gulping breaths, like she had been drowning before and hadn't even known it.

The thing was that Max didn't know what was going on and Alec did. He had read the report that Tara had complied back in Manticore detailing all of their animalistic traits. He'd wanted to know more about why they reacted in certain ways in certain situations; like when they had all poured all over Max when she was upset.

After taking in the majority of Tara's report, he researched even deeper; looking into ways animals interacted just in case there were more instances than they knew of. He was well aware that some animals acted instinctively with hate and protectiveness when one of their kin was threatened and he realised that, with their recent argument, Max was on edge where Pix was concerned.

Add those two factors together and you get Max overreacting at the thought that Pix might be in danger.

Guilt was a powerful force.

"Shh," Alec rocked her back and forth until some semblance of normality had returned and she moved away, shaking herself.

"Okay. I'm okay."

Alec merely smiled softly. Sure she was.

"Let's go find him."

>>>>

Pix was cornered and he knew it. The men had been watching from every corner and no matter where he went, he found his way blocked.

Two blocks into a chase someone yelled out "transgenic freak" and pointed at him. Unfortunately he was right in front of a gang of thugs with a metal cup proclaiming "Humans against mutants". They'd taken one look at him and…Well, things got ugly real fast.

Instinct overrode training as they got closer and Pix made several stupid mistakes and ended up trapped in a dead end with no way of jumping or climbing over the sixty foot wall.

"Shit!" he cursed and spun in a wild circle like a cornered animal, his eyes desperately searching for a way out.

From the mouth of the alley, shadows moved into play and Pix's wild eyes counted at least twelve men holding sticks and makeshift bats.

He swallowed.

"You guys have the wrong guy!" he held up his hands. "I mean, c'mon, is this the face of a mutant? I haven't got feline DNA… Hey, I'm lactose intolerant!"

His lame attempt at misdirection wasn't working and they came closer; he could smell the stale scent of their sweat and old beer, a lethal combination of alcohol and stupidity.

The men moved closer. "You freaks need to go back to where you came from."

"Okay!" Pix forced a smile and held his hands up. "I'll go."

"We'll help," one lifted his weapon, a jagged scar over his face proclaiming that he was used to this kind of situation.

"No, no, no," Pix shook his head. "No need, fellas. But my country and I thank you for your assistance."

"Smart ass!" one hissed and Pix could feel the sweat trickling down his back.

"Look, there are hover drones all over," he tried to reason. "If you beat me to death they'll have evidence of murder one."

Scarface grinned. "Who's gonna care? It ain't murder if it ain't human."

Pix gave up. If he was going to go down, he was doing it on his terms. "I see that logic, along with looks, bypassed you gentlemen. I assure you that, despite media representation, my pedigree is far superior to yours."

"We're going to kill you."

Pix shrugged. "Whatever gets you off. There is just one thing I have to know."

"What?"

"Were your parents related _before_ they were married?"

White smiled from his vantage point just west of the alley as he heard the first punch land with a sickening crunch and his eyes flitted to the hover drones as they edged above the alley, capturing the fight and broadcasting it to the nation.

He stepped back as there was a move back towards the main street and four men dragged a bloodied transgenic into the square where they dropped him.

The transgenic surged sluggishly to his feet and kicked out at the nearest man, managing to send him sprawling backwards into his buddies.

>>>>

Metres above them, the hover drone cameras whirled and clicked.

>>>>

Her eyes were riveted to the screen as the footage was shown.

As soon as Pix's picture was shown Chance had wanted to leave, to run and find him, joining the team that had assembled almost faster than the speed of light, but she was stopped by Zan who, reasonably, pointed out that she was far too overwrought to make any kind of sensible decision and, in fact, she would only be jeopardizing Pix.

Tearfully she had agreed to stay behind, seeing the wisdom of his words.

That was until she had seen the hover drone footage.

At first it showed Pix cornered in an alley, shooting wise cracks and for an impossible moment she wondered if he'd manage to joke his way out of it.

Then one of the men swung a baseball bat at him and all hell broke loose.

Chance refused to let them change the channel and kept her eyes glued to the screen as Zan grabbed a gun and hollered for back up.

She didn't know or care if there was a god of transgenics, but she prayed.

She prayed as Mole and Zan left the centre; she prayed as Tara followed, screaming for supplies and she prayed as Feen moved beside her for moral support.

With each swing, each crack and each fist imploding into his face sent knives into her heart and her nails cut half-moons into her palms as her hands clenched in fear, in pain and in desperation.

Chance's breath came hard and fast, her eyes never moving from the static-filled screen as the picture of Pix flickered in and out.

Her hands clutched at her shirt as if trying to claw out the pain that was spreading throughout her body.

Thick, hot tears rolled down her face and dripped off her chin, but she remained oblivious to everything save that one metal box; the box that showed the face of the man that she loved more than creation itself.

Her breath caught as she watched two burly men grab hold of Pix's shirt, tearing it to reveal the unflawed perfection that she had run her hands over just this morning.

A gash marred the soft skin and blood, red as any human's, ran freely from the wound.

Pix crumpled to the ground and dark shadows overtook him, blocking out his picture from her view.

A soft keening filled the room as Chance rocked backwards and forwards grabbing frantically at anything to keep her grounded, to let reality reassert itself.

There was no way that this could be happening.

Hard hands took her shoulders and Chance reached back, grasping anything and her back met a hard solid chest; firm and _real_.

Her head shook faster and faster as the arms pulled her in tight, rocking her like a child.

Ben tightened his grip on the shaking girl as she began to tremble in earnest and it was all he could do to hold on when she began to fight to reach the screen.

Sobs fought their way up her tight throat, rubbed raw from the muffled screams she was holding back. A choked anguished cry fled her lips, starling everyone in the room who had turned to silence.

"NO!" she screamed and her knees gave way. Those same strong arms caught her and held her, letting her bury her head in a shoulder of comfort.

A large hand blocked her view of the screen and she battled to keep her eyes on Pix.

"No, no," soothed the voice as the body rocked back and forth. "Don't watch. Don't watch it."

"Pix," she wailed. "D—!"

Her voice reduced to animalistic howls, ragged weeping was all that came from the girl as she slid to the floor, wrapped in the arms of her comforter.

>>>>

Pix's vision spun in and out as his body returned to auto-pilot. A punch landed in his solar plexus and even though Pix gasped, 418 retaliated with a fist in a face.

He stumbled, his leg broken and pressed one hand to his aching chest, battered by impact with a wall. He was fading fast and knew it.

A quick twist of his hands had him snapping the neck of one of his attackers but it was too little too late. He was overrun and even though they were human, metal pipes and wooden boards evened the odds somewhat.

A burning pain exploded down one shoulder as it was wrenched from its socket and a scream was torn from a throat that bruised and bleeding.

Pix choked on the blood that ran slickly down his throat and spat deep red liquid over whoever was nearest.

A last sign of defiance.

A baseball bat to the back of the head had him falling to broken knees, like he was praying, and a metal pipe to the jaw switched out the lights.

>>>>

In the end it wasn't hard to find Pix. They just followed the screams and the throng of people who gathered to the scene like spectators at a macabre accident.

The humans who prided themselves on their civilisation wanted to watch someone get killed and flocked like it was a Sunday picnic.

The night was creeping in, adding a far more sinister element to the already frightening situation with shadows dancing amongst the crowds like demons.

By the time Max and Alec had found them, the street was full and all they could hear were the yells of encouragement from down the front. They split up to try to get to Pix, each coming from a different side in the vain hopes that the crowds would be thinner from one corner.

Max watched from the sidelines, battling as hard as could to get to Pix, but the crowd was too big. She rammed her elbows into bodies and screamed his name, fighting the people who had assembled to watch the death of a transgenic.

"Damn you," she choked, her words hard. "MOVE!"

Alec was having as much trouble from the other end, too many bodies and not enough room to manoeuvre. He, being taller than Max, could see what was happening and his stomach turned as yet another fist ploughed into Pix's face, spurting blood over the nearest horde member.

The cheers and jeers of the crowd echoed like death-knells in his sensitive ears and he hated each and every one of these people with an intensity that he hadn't felt since Manticore.

Max leaped up on the back of the nearest person, desperately needing confirmation of what she suspected and, as her knees made contact with someone's kidneys, she cleared the crowds and caught sight of Pix.

Breath rushed out of Max's body like a gush of wind. His face, his beautiful face, was a mass of blood, his lips were torn and his hair was in chunks, masses of his chestnut locks scattered at his feet.

His arm was hanging at an odd angle proclaiming it broken and his sweet mischievous eyes were shut, blood matting those long lashes closed. Someone had ripped his shirt and scraped something down his back leaving it in shreds, blood soaking the shirt Chance had brought as a present for him.

He was indistinguishable from the man who had sat in the command centre with her that morning, joking about Dek and Aiden.

Now he looked like a mass of meat—disjointed and broken.

Oh, God. They broke him.

"String him up!" someone yelled and there was a chorus of cheers.

"No!" Max heard Alec's yell from the other side of the crowd and it spurred her to move faster.

She brought her fists down in an almighty force on the person she was sitting on, knocking him to the floor.

Surging forwards into the crowds, Max let her rage take her even as it all seemed to be going in slow motion. She used her fists and nails, teeth and legs as she tried desperately to fight the crowds, not caring that she was ridiculously outnumbered.

Her clawed hands snapped a neck and a shocked scream from one side of her had people moving away from her.

A flare of light caught her gaze and her head turned instinctively as someone poured gasoline on a bonfire, a wooden 'X' obscenely obvious.

Behind the flaming cross was a hangman's noose.

And they were dragging Pix's lifeless body towards it.

Pushing onwards through the crowds Max felt like she had that day in Manticore when she had fallen through the ice; helpless, hopeless and swimming against the current towards her destruction.

Yells were muffled and the sound echoed in her head like a dull roar.

"NO!" she screamed; her throat raw from the smoke starting to billow over the masses.

Max stumbled and glanced down to see a wooden fragment, splintered and somehow missed from the morbid inferno.

Her hands grasped its rotted beams, splinters jabbing her with poisoned barbs, and she swung it, scattering those in front of her as they felt the hard impact.

Like a demon possessed, Max swung and slammed, creating space around her where there had been none, enough room to kick and jump forwards, getting ever closer to those carrying the body of her dearest friend.

With a primal war cry Max leaped into the air, higher than she had ever jumped and soared over the crowds, landing within feet of the object of her frantic attentions.

Two men had hold of Pix's arms, dragging him like a bloody sack of potatoes. They turned at hearing Max's approach and started in surprise at the pretty girl brandishing a plank of wood like it was a baseball bat.

"Put. Him. Down," she growled, sounding feral, not knowing that blood streamed down her face, made shiny by the flickering flames making her look like the monster they proclaimed her to be.

"You one of them?" one sneered, obviously thinking what he could do to such a pretty transgenic before he killed her.

"I'm the worst," she snarled as she pulled back the wood. With all her heart and all her strength Max thrust the impromptu stake forward, straight into the belly of the attacker—and through it.

The screams faded into silence and the only sound was the crackling of the flames behind them and the far away wail of a siren.

In slow, meticulous movements, the man stared down at the stake that protruded from his body.

The crowd hushed at the spectacle of the man's pale face staring incomprehensibly at the wood adorning his body and then back up at the cold face of Max. He coughed once and blood dribbled from his mouth, spreading down his chin, staining his shirt with his own blood, undistinguishable from Pix's.

With a choked sound he fell to his knees, his body as motionless as Pix.

Silence filled the crowd as Max turned her evil gaze to the other man who had been frozen by sight of his friend's body dropping to the floor.

A dark stain spread over the front of his trousers as he met those piercing eyes, proclaiming that this was not a happy person; that this was not a person to mess with; that this was danger personified. This was the reason that man shouldn't mess with nature because, at some point, nature would fight back.

Max snarled, her teeth showing and he dropped Pix's other arm, stepping back quickly.

Max turned slowly as he tried to make it to the safety of the crowd, her eyes following his every move until she was face on with the hoards.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw Alec finally make his way through the stationary mob, knocking aside a cameraman who knew he had his Pulitzer in his hand as the conflict escalated.

Alec knelt in front of Pix, his eyes closing at the badly beaten man.

"God, Max," he retched as he tried to find some indication of life, his hands sliding in the thick fluid as he tried to hold his friend.

"Is he alive?" Max asked, her eyes intent on the hostile factions in front of her who were gathering courage from the sheer numbers that they had.

Alec tried desperately to find a pulse, his fingers sliding over the neck, slick with spilled life-blood.

"Max, I, I— can't— find," he spoke brokenly, all thought of machismo gone.

Manticore had taught them to how to survive, how to suffer and how to keep silent, but it hadn't taught them how to cope with love lost, how to cope with hearts broken or souls shattered. And even a transgenic broke at the final indignity.

Death.

Max's heart lay shattered at her feet as Alec's ragged breaths heaved behind her and, for the first time since that woods so long ago, 452 came out to play.

452 looked up through the eyes of Max to survey the crowds.

Guilty. Every single one of them was guilty.

And she would make them pay.

Drawing up every ounce of anger, every slice of pain and every inch of hate, Max advanced on the crowds wanting to make them hurt like she did.

The crowds seemed scared but willing to believe in mass over might until a roar erupted from the left and the right.

The crowds spun trying to source the noise and gasped as three trucks pulled up, headlights blazing against the night sky.

Blinking at the bright light each person watched as figures emerged from the machines.

Figures silhouetted in the dark as monsters from their darkest nightmares.

Frightened snivels and screams filled the night air as people jostled from left to right knowing that they were surrounded, but trying to flee. They were still larger on number but fear gripped them.

And guns evened the odds somewhat.

Max nodded at the reinforcements as Tara hurtled from the truck on the right with her bag, racing to kneel by Pix's side.

"Fucking traffic." Max had never heard Tara use such language and it added an essence of surrealism to the already hellish situation.

Mole hurried over to Max and handed her a gun, eliciting scared whimpers from the crowd.

"Scared now, we're not so defenceless?" Max sneered pitilessly. "Should have thought of that before."

Max waited until the engines rumbled to a halt and then allowed her attention back to the crowds who trembled at her fury.

She turned to the man who had dragged Pix's body and stared him right in the eye.

"I. Know. You. Now," she said softly, scarily. "Your face is here." She tapped the side of her head. "There is nowhere that you can go. There is nowhere that you can hide. Should you run, I will hunt you down."

"Transgenic scum!" a voice called from somewhere in the middle of the crowd and Max's head spun towards it.

"Come here and say that."

No one moved.

"Cowards," she spat. "That's what you all are. He was one, ONE, against all of you. He wasn't the one lynching an innocent man."

"You're not human!"

"So he was made in a lab. Invitro testing has been done for generations," she yelled. "Your children benefit from what was tested on us. Hypocrites!"

Max spied the camera man intent on her and she strode over, grabbing him by the hair.

"You want an exclusive, is that what you want?"

The scared man nodded and she yanked his hair, dragging him over to the bloody body of her friend.

She grabbed the lens of the camera and focused it on the battered face of her friend and leader.

"See that? You see your 'humanity'. He was going out for groceries for the children _you_ starve and you do this. What colour is this?"

The man stared at the blood that littered her hands, the blood that surrounded the ground, and the blood that dripped down her face.

"What colour?" she all but screamed.

"Red."

"Why is that different to you?" Max asked, her eyes on his ignoring the camera as her tortured eyes were shown the world over. "We bleed. We hurt. We want to be left alone. We haven't hurt you but, by God, you are making it easy to. We were made to be soldiers and we have fought for you and your country and this is the thanks we get? You—you—you say we are monsters?" Her voice went hoarse as she looked at Pix's body. "Look at him. LOOK AT HIM! There's your story."

"Max!" Tara said urgently and Max released the cameraman who darted back into the crowd, glad to be away from the woman who scared and humbled him.

"I got a pulse."

Max's heart pounded.

"It's faint, but it's there," Tara exclaimed breathlessly. "We have to get him to TC. Now."

Max nodded and Alec and three other X's gently lifted Pix.

"Careful, don't puncture anything," Tara instructed, a calmness filling her as she switched to doctor mode.

The crowds parted like the Red Sea as the procession edged through to the larger truck, Tara jumping in to stabilise her patient.

"Alec?" Max asked, her eyes never moving from the crowds.

"I'm going," he said in a voice so clear and stable that it settled the nerves she was feeling at letting Pix out of her sight.

She half-turned to look at him, expecting some sort of warning about not blowing their cover or watching the camera's, or at least a caution to be careful; but after a quick searching of her eyes Alec just smiled ruefully.

"I'll take care of things at home," he said in a low voice. "Trust me and… and do what you need to."

Max nodded and watched as Alec clambered into the back of the truck, his hands immediately drenched in Pix's blood as he helped to staunch the flow.

"Atta boy," Mole whispered approvingly.

The eyes of all watched as the truck roared to life and sped out of the area like a bat out of hell.

Max closed her eyes, hope spreading through her. The murmur of voices alerted her to her audience and Max opened her eyes.

"We wanted to be left alone. If you insist on dragging us into the light, don't blame us if you don't like the view." She headed towards them and they, as one, stepped back. "We would have been happy in retirement. But you changed all that and I'm here to tell you now, that if he dies because of what you've done, nothing will keep me from dusting off my governmentally appointed skills and hunting each and every single one of you down and doing the same to you as you've done to him. Photographic memory," she tapped her head again mockingly. "Your tax dollars at work."

She sauntered over to the truck and climbed in slamming the door as the truck squealed out of the square.

>>

Max leaned her head against the glass window watching as the lights flickered by.

No one wanted to interrupt her silent reverie and they were all more than shocked at seeing their leader act like that.

It was almost as if she had regressed to primitive animalistic rage and it scared them as much as impressed them because they knew that within themselves lay the potential to be the same.

It wasn't until Jace, the designated driver, swerved that Max realised something was wrong.

"What?" she snapped tiredly and Jace straightened her shoulders, feeling unnerved by her baby sister.

"We're being followed."

Max's temper, unleashed by the scene she had witnessed and too tired reign in, exploded and she reached over and grabbed a gun from the rack. "Then let's ditch the sons of bitches."

"Amen," Mole said around his cigar and kicked out the back panel of the truck. He leaned out and took aim.

"Warning shot." Max cautioned and he snorted, aiming wide and taking a pot-shot at the road.

A flash of light was their only warning and Mole called to duck as the black sedan returned fire.

Jace swung the truck out of the way of the shots and skidded around a corner.

"Evasive action," she warned. "Everyone not currently engaged in killing their asses, get your damn seat belt on."

"Tires," was Max's next instruction and a round of ammunition was spent on blowing out the car's wheels.

Mole swore as Jace swerved again, making him miss.

"Who the hell taught you how to drive, missy?"

"Same person who taught you how to dress, asshole," Jace shot back as she avoided yet another dilapidated building.

"Save the flirting for back at TC," Max yelled over the roar of wind of sputter of gunfire. "I don't care if they know where we are but I'll be damned if I let them in my home."

Jace spared her a glance. "Straight home?"

Max made a split second decision. They'd find out where the transgenics were housed sooner or later and it was imperative that she make it back. If Pix was… didn't make it, then they'd need a strong leader.

Alec could do it, but if she was dead then would he?

She didn't want to find out.

"Terminal city. But faster than them."

"Yes, ma'am," Jace responded automatically.

Max peered out the back window amidst the three transgenics returning fire and let her super senses out towards the car.

She let out a blue streak of swear words in every language she knew and then made up a few.

"Ames White!" she spat after she'd impressed Mole with her profanity. "You shoot that two-faced, inbred schmuck and I'll buy you lunch every day for the rest of your life."

"Deal," Mole said as he aimed at the driver.

The bullet bounced off the windshield.

"Damn."

The two cars were locked in combat as Ames White let his henchmen return, with force, the fire that they received. Tires screeched in the night air and bullet's rebounded off walls and embedded themselves in the metal of the car frame.

"Max," Jace called. "There is no way that we are going to get inside without them following us, they are too damn close."

Max nodded. "Head left; let's try to get in from the back."

But Ames White was determined not to let them go and Max swore again as he remained close, forcing them down a blind alley.

"He's a plague in my ass!" she said through gritted teeth.

The end of the alley was blocked off and there was only the way they had come in and an offshoot that they could flee down.

She was about to issue new orders to Jace when she heard the sound of a new car engine purring towards them and her heart sank as she didn't recognise the registration of the car that swept through the side alley, effectively barricading them in.

It looked like White had backup.

The three cars stopped, the new car between her and White, cutting off access to the street.

Jace could only move if White reversed and the new car edged out of the way.

They were trapped.

"Shit." Max slammed her hands on the dashboard as they skidded to a halt.

"You know," Mole said acerbically as he reloaded. "Chases do nothing for your vocabulary, Princess."

Max glared at him. "Go forth and perform deviant acts of nature with a walrus. I have slightly more important things to worry about than my vocabulary!"

"Tension is no excuse for sloppy grammar," Mole sneered and Jace realised that he was trying to lighten the atmosphere. "Besides, a walrus?"

Max shook her head. She was in no mood to play games.

"Why aren't they making a move?"

Jace shook her head and faced the other car trying to gauge its threat potential. A smile slowly spread over her face.

"What's so damn funny, missy?" Mole asked around his cigar.

"It is reinforcements. But not for them."

Max frowned and focused on the windshield. She zeroed in on a blonde woman at the steering wheel and a dark-haired man with olive skin in the passenger side.

Someone else was in the back but she couldn't see who.

"Transgenics?" she asked, her mood lightening. "I don't recognise them."

Jace grinned. "I do."

The rear door to the new car opened and out walked an impossibly tall woman with masses of curly red hair and legs up to her neck, emphasized by tight blue jeans and a short mid-riff bearing shirt. Over her shoulder was slung an AK47 and she sauntered into the square like a cowboy at the O.K. Corral.

"Yo, asshole!" she yelled at Ames White's windshield. "This Missy from the City tells ya to move ya scrap heap before I make it like swiss, 'kay?"

"Missy from the city?" Max asked absently, her eyes on the red head.

"I'm Special Agent Ames White and you are interfering in government business!" White called from his car. "Reverse back into the next alley, miss."

"I don't care if you president of the goddamn galaxy. I'm going nowhere 'til you move, pretty boy."

"If she is transgenic," Max noted, "she'll make a good friend for Mole."

"Love those legs," he drooled.

But Max's attention was on the woman as she strolled nonchalantly towards the Agent's car and put her boot on the hood.

"Ma'am, I'll not tell you again!" White called, not really seeing the gun with Max's harsh headlights blaring straight through his windshield.

"Ma'am?" she laughed and bent down, peering at him. "Only the boys call me ma'am when I kick their ass. Like this."

And with that she pushed with her foot, unexpectedly sending White's car skidding back a good twenty feet.

"She's transgenic!" White screamed even as she ducked and rolled the barrage of fire, coming up on the other side blazing. The blonde in the car edged forward into the space left by the retraction of White's car and Jace squealed into action, sliding past and into the side alley, hurtling around the corner and racing to the entrance of Terminal City.

The doors opened for them like magic, almost as if someone had been waiting and watching and they were out of the car with the gates closing before they had moved more than a few feet.

Max turned to Jace as she slammed the car door. "Will your friends be okay?"

Jace nodded. "I imagine they'll be right behind us."

She hadn't even finished speaking before a squeal of tires alerted them to the impending presence of another car.

Max halted in her attempt to get to the medical bay where she knew Pix would be already.

"Shall I admit?" the guard yelled down to her.

"Car make and registration?"

"Ford, green one, reg says uh… SQ RU U."

"Sqruu?" Max frowned. That didn't sound like White.

"Screw you," Jace filled in. "It's them."

"Open up!" Max called, stepping back as she wondered who their rescuers were, and the gates parted enough for the green ford to fly in. It screamed to a halt and smoke poured from the engine.

The side door opened and the olive skinned man jumped out, slinging an assault rifle over his head. The driver followed in a whirl of blonde hair.

"Yo, witch!" she yelled as she kicked the rear door. "Kiss my fumes is not what I would call leaving gracefully!"

The rear door opened and the red-head stomped out. "Excuse the fuse, girl. I got them off our tail!"

"You got them good and mad!" the blonde gestured to the hood of the ford. "They shot up my ride, Jon, how good's that gonna look on PTA day, huh?"

The red-head shrugged. "Tell them you work in inner city areas."

"I find that hard, see. They banned advanced weaponry in my catchment area!"

"Guys!" the man interrupted.

"What!" they yelled simultaneously.

He gestured to where they were being watched curiously.

"First impression?"

"Pff!" dismissed the red-head. "We're the damn cavalry, K, don't need an entrance."

"And yet you manage one all the same."

Max was about to leave Jace to welcome their new recruits but froze as Zack walked out into the courtyard.

All three of them suddenly stood straighter as if in deference and it suddenly dawned on Max who they must be.

The red-headed Amazon turned to her. "Hey, sorry for the noise level, doll. It's been a long drive."

Zack grinned as Syl gave Jondy a disgusted look.

"Hey, I'm Syl," she introduced. "This is Krit and Jondy."

Zack laughed as he realised that none of his siblings had any idea who they were talking to.

"Syl, Krit, Jon, this is Max."

"Hi, Ma—Max?" Jondy did a double take. "Max as in Maxie?"

"Quick, ain't she?" Mole said around his cigar.

"Baby girl!" Jondy laughed and hurried over to Max, throwing her arms around her.

Max blinked at the thought of her sweet, shy sister growing up to be this bold, brash red-head.

"Hi," she managed and extracted herself from the hug, looking at her old siblings.

Old siblings, new siblings, Zack and Jondy, Pix and Alec. Suddenly she didn't want to deal with any of this; all she wanted to do was run as far and as fast as she could.

But Pix needed her.

She held up her hands as Syl and Krit advanced to hug her. "Sorry guys, one of mine has been injured. We'll catch up later, 'kay?" she backed away. "Jace, take them to Alec, he'll assign rooms."

She turned around and raced for the infirmary.

"Hey, Max!" Krit mock-waved as she disappeared. "Nice to see you."

"Leave it," Zack said with a shake of his head. "Things are very complicated here right now. She'll talk later."

"Ice," Jondy said with a shrug.

"How did you know to come rescue us?" Jace asked with a frown.

"Got the box on," Syl explained. "Krit and Jondy were fighting over the tuner and we picked up the local news detailing a car chase with transgenics."

"Life ain't fun without a car chase!" Jondy said. "It was like being back home."

"Transgenic, trans_ves_tite," Krit pretended to weigh the two in his hands and Jondy reached over to flick his ear.

"Well I hope Max gets some chance to talk to us," Syl replied, ignoring the other two.

"I'm sure she will. It's hard being leader," Jace said with an edge of mischief and the three newcomers froze.

"Max is the leader?"

tbc...

* * *

**I'm hiding.**

Susamaroos

Pinkflipflop3- Glad you liked the last chapter. Hope you felt this was worth the wait too. Even if it was slightly um… mean?

Toniboo

Geminangel

Bluejean452- More interaction between the 09ers and Spec Ops coming up. They will be fast paced because of the action within the next three chapters. Added some M/A moments too.

Chimera- Don't I always? big grin . Enjoy.

Spuffyshipper- M/A is the best ship in DA. Can't believe you ship Spuffy still! She was evil to him! LOL. We can agree to disagree.

Feenian- Great to hear from you again. Actually this update was much faster than the others- only 21/2 weeks since last one.

AlbaHolly

WerrieAnna- I know, I can't believe it's almost the end. It over a years work! Px knew what he was doing. Don't forget that he's smarter than we all give him credit for. C'mon, everyone loves a rebel  I'm not sure if we'll see coco. But I invite you to the wedding. Hope you enjoy the chapter and more MA moments.

Mae- Hope you had a great day, pet. Did you get what you wanted?

Caboodle- Don't kill anyone? Are you sure? Really sure?

Sigma1

AngelOfDarkness231

BlackRose9- LOL. Don't hold back, tell Ben how you really feel. I think that because there is so much going on and they have grown apart somewhat that there isn't as much camaraderie as before. I will change that shortly.

A reader- Hey pet, nice to hear from you again. Nice take, as well, on Ben's helpfulness—everyone else is being mean to my poor Ben. He is great isn't he? I hope he'll settle down soon.

Sweettweety06- Why are you in a rut? Anything I can do to help? Ahem… not kill Pix? Are you sure? You have remembered the show well and that is what happened with Biggs etc… I hope you didn't cry too hard at this chapter. Have tissues and eagerly await the next chapter.

Crazy-Vampire-Slayer

Mely's the name- Sneaky maybe but idiot? Do not malign my dearest Ben so! I realised after your review that we haven't heard much of Alec and so I purposely added more Alec scenes and dialogue. He'll play a more active role again soon. So thanks for that. just remember that I only have so much room per chapter! Et Voila more Krit!

Ronda TIW

Dawn's Heart

Moonlite Star

Kim- Oops! Dek is just a wonderful guy and he gets a few great one-liners within the next few chapters. Ben was the storyteller and I think he knows how to play to an audience. Watch this space for more machinations. More soon… but not too much more.

EganOne-

Ganko- You're welcome pet. Glad to see you back, darling. Pix is smarter than we give him credit for so watch this space on how he actually reacts to this. Remember he is the joker of Manticore. As for Zan… cute—not too bright though. Update was faster this time. I am so enjoying the end!

Charlotte- Thank you so much. Sorry to say that it will be some time before we see Pix's tricks. I adore him too, but we'll have to see if he recovers first. Thank you for reminding me to update too!


	22. 19a Finding your place again

**Hey all, back from hols, had a blast etc etc. Thanks to everyone who reviewed. If you look closely at the next few chapters you'll see some surprises in store for you guys.**

**

* * *

Chapter 19. ****Finding your place again**

. 

Colonel Donald Lydecker was furious. No, scratch that. He was more infuriated than he had ever been before in his life and he wanted White's head on a stick.

"Just what the hell did you think you were playing at?" he demanded of the Agent who was disinterestedly eating an apple. "Do the words 'covert operation' not mean anything to you? Where the hell did you do your military training? Beirut?"

White finished his apple and flicked the core into the bin. Then he brushed imaginary lint off his black tailored trousers and settled back nonchalantly in his chair.

"Done?" he inquired truculently.

Lydecker took a deep breath. "I have to question the fact, Mr. White, that someone who supposedly has a genius IQ and a spotless military record could be such a fucking screw up!"

Otto winced at the sheer decibel of Lydecker's voice.

"You not only lost the target through sheer impulse but also let 452 get away _and_ be televised!"

White stared back at him coolly. "I fail to see how that is my fault. If anything your failure to include me on the new techniques for apprehending transgenics is the key to the failure of the mission. You have to be in the game to play the hand."

Lydecker regarded him thoughtfully and suddenly turned to Otto. "I think you could use a coffee, Gottleib."

Otto looked uneasily between the two men and slowly nodded. "Okay."

He left the room slowly, casting looks over his shoulder to the escalating situation.

As soon as the door shut, White turned to Lydecker with a smirk. "Uh, oh, now I'm in trouble."

Lydecker walked sedately over to the widow and twisted the blinds so that they shut out the light.

White rolled his eyes. "Your little interrogation methods won't work on me, Deck."

Lydecker said nothing as he sauntered over to the other window and did the same, shutting out all light to the narrow room.

White slumped in his chair, letting Lydecker know that he wasn't worried by the man's actions.

Then Lydecker spoke, softly and without preamble. "I don't know who you are working for, White, and I don't much care; but the one thing I do care about is my kids. Create a master race, I don't care. Destroy the world, I could care less. But mess with my kids… now that is different."

White sat up straight, his hard dark eyes intent on the older man, still staring at the closed blinds. "You know who I work for."

Lydecker smirked. "Maybe you aren't as covert as you think you are…_Brother_ _White_."

Ames White froze, his mind racing as the implications of this occurred to him.

Lydecker suddenly moved and had White by the scruff of the neck before the man could even take a breath.

Lydecker's hands tightened on the white material and he saw the tight collar cut into the skin of his enemy and render his throat tight and red.

Still White said nothing.

"See, your little cult isn't my concern. But you?" Lydecker shook his slightly. "You are my concern and when you screw up and one of mine gets hurt, well, _then_ we have a problem."

White's face twisted in pure fury and he made a grab for Lydecker's hands, but the man was surprisingly strong for one not as young as he used to be.

"Get your hands off me!" White snarled.

Lydecker brought him in close. "The only reason I am not messing up your pretty boy looks is because you appear on TV in an hour, which is where you will stick to what you do best—plead ignorance and tell everyone that you know nothing, _nothing, _about transgenics. As far as you know they don't exist. Are we clear? Because if one more of my kids get hurt because of your little premature problem," Lydecker's voice dropped to a menacing hiss, "then I will make. You. Pay."

White was unceremoniously dropped to the floor where his hand touched his throat, rubbing the red marks as Lydecker stalked out of the room.

He got to his feet and pushed the intense hatred down and away.

White knew better than to show Lydecker just how much he had gotten under his skin.

The crusty old alcoholic may have thought lowly of White's military skills but there was one thing that White knew, that it seemed old Deck had forgotten.

It really, _really_ wasn't smart to tell your enemy what your weakness was.

>>>>

All transgenics hated hospitals. It was like a rule or something, or maybe it was just the memory of having to spend hours, days; sometimes weeks in them at Manticore, that truly made the experience something horrific.

Max, herself, had memories of being strapped to tables, unable to move awaiting the sounds of drills and…

She shuddered and forced herself back to the present; not that it was much better than her reminiscing, but at least she wasn't gripping her chair as harshly, hearing the cracking of the plastic in protest at her rough treatment.

The problem was that all hospitals smelled the same, no matter where they were or how quickly they had been erected, they all had the same scent and the one in Terminal City was no different. It smelt of antiseptic and death; manic cleanliness to override the fact that some people just weren't going to get better.

The steady beep of the monitor that Tara had erected over Pix's still body was grating in the otherwise still air and Max felt nauseous with every single pip of the heart machine, every whoosh of the respirator and every rattle of the tubes that Tara had linked him up to.

That was even discounting the shuddery breaths that Chance hiccupped out every now and then.

Max had her hand to her mouth and was gnawing on the side of her thumb as her eyes fixed on the battered body of her friend and leader. She refused to take her eyes off him and had nearly brained poor Tara when she was told to get herself fixed up. In her anger at the crowds and the chase by White, and even the arrival of her siblings, Max hadn't even noticed that she had been injured too and it was only Tara's efficient movements that prevented Max from succumbing to her injures.

Blood loss and infection.

After she had spoken to the brother and sisters that had newly arrived, Max had flown to the infirmary which Tara had set up only hours before their ill fated exploit outside. She wasn't in the least surprised to see the majority of Terminal City waiting fretfully outside the infirmary door waiting to be let in to see him.

With a few snarled words from Mole and Alec, the crowds had dispersed and Max made her way into the actual infirmary where Chance already paced and they watched together as Tara and her medical team treated Pix.

Tara and Jay managed to stop the blood flowing from his fragile body and fix the various holes that had been ripped into his skin. They had tried to set the cracks and breaks and fractures that littered his body and Jay had thrown up as they unfolded the skin from his leg to see the bone shattered to pieces.

Chance had almost broken down when she realised that it was possible that he would either need a metal leg… or a wheelchair.

But the worst was yet to come and even Max couldn't hold back the tears as Tara showed her the CAT scan. Swelling and blood in the brain, maybe a haematoma or clot.

Max closed her eyes as Chance sobbed and she surged to her feet, starting to pace across the floor.

"How could they do this?" Chance looked at Max through red-rimmed eyes. "He wasn't doing anything, Max!"

"I know," Max bit out.

"Is he gonna die?" Chance's voice was small and scared as Tara bit her lip.

Tara shook her head slowly. "I don't know, Chance. He took quite a beating, I have him as stable as I can with this equipment, but…" she trailed off.

Chance reached out to touch some part of Pix that wasn't covered in either bandages or bruises and had to settle for a light touch on a scratched hand.

"Don't let them take you. Fight them, Pix," she whispered. "Promise me you'll fight them."

Max looked away as tears spilled down Chance's cheeks.

She was relieved when the door opened and Biggs entered his face serious and pale. He took one look at his sister and opened his arms.

With a muffled cry, Chance ran into her brother's arms and started to cry in earnest.

Biggs stroked his sister's dark hair and glanced at Max over the top of her head. "Alec could do with you in central."

Max nodded, knowing that she had to go. She turned to Tara. "Let me know if—"

"Anything changes," Tara finished and nodded, already dismissing Max as she attended to her patient. "Oh, Max?"

"Hmm?"

"If you see Dek, can you send him over? I could do with the hands."

"Sure." And with one last look over her shoulder, Max left.

>

Max walked into Central command and walked up to the central dais and up to the balcony that overlooked the main headquarters of Terminal City. When she had pushed her way through the door, the noise level fell to silence and she made her way to the balcony, ignoring the intense stares that seemingly bored through her.

Max cleared her throat as she stared down at the sea of faces, human and otherwise as they awaited her words.

"I assume everyone knows by now that whilst executing his duties as leader of Terminal City, X5- 418, Pix, was attacked viciously by humans." Her chin lifted as she surveyed the scared expressions down below. "As of now his condition is stable but critical. We don't know if he'll pull through," she trained her voice not to crack. "I'll tell you when we have more news. For now I need a meeting of all department heads."

She turned her back on the crowds and hurried over to the command display where Mole and Dix stood, watching her.

"Ramifications?" she asked in a clipped voice.

"Other than having blown our position?" Dix shrugged. "The army hasn't arrived yet, which is something of a blessing."

"Ordinaries?" Alec asked, coming up behind Max and laying his hands on her hips.

Luke shook his head. "No more than usual."

"No." Max pushed Alec's hands away, not noticing that he flinched at the rejection. She was still too sore over Pix to even think of anything else right now. "White saw us come into Terminal City. He has to know where we are."

Alec pointed to the screens. "There is a major hearing regarding Manticore and the transgenics today. I think White has bigger fish to fry if he wants to keep his job."

"The hearing's today?" Max had forgotten that. It was all over the news that someone was trying to pin the blame of Manticore on someone's shoulders. Billions of tax dollars and a secret government project just couldn't be slipped under the rug, especially when people like Eyes Only had let it slip. There had to be answers, had to be remuneration.

Had to be a scapegoat.

"In about an hour," Mole answered helpfully.

Max stared down at her hands.

What the hell was she supposed to do now? With Pix out of commission, people were looking to her for answers and she just didn't have any.

Despite being a leader for years, Max had never had to bother about what to think or what to say as Manticore had always told them what it was that they should be doing. Now that she was out here and alone she didn't know what to do.

She knew that once she arrived, Pix had assumed she would take over, in fact, back at Manticore, he had been groomed into thinking that Max was the CO and always would be. He didn't mind when she took over as it was almost instinct to let her do so. She had asked him often enough if he minded her adding her advice in and his response was always the same; "You'll always be leader to me, Max."

It was humbling as much as it was terrifying, but to know now that she really was in charge…

She suddenly had much more respect for Pix, although his situation was slightly different.

He had tried to prepare them to live; Max had to prepare them to fight.

Fight.

And to do that they needed to be prepared.

"Meeting in room 6a in half an hour. I want all Spec Ops, all department heads and every sector leader there. Luke, Dix," she turned to them, "I need you to hook the room up with TV, I want to be able to watch the damn hearing."

"Got it." The two anomalies hurried off to find the necessary cables.

"Mole, I want full reports from each department head. Weapons, supplies—what we have and what we need." Max drummed her fingers on the table. "Isacar?"

The blond popped his head up from where he had been working silently with Techie. "Yeah?"

"I need you to go find Dek for me and tell him to haul ass over to the medical bay."

For once Isacar sped off without sarcasm.

Max glanced around and spotted some X's sitting nearby, their eyes intent on her.

The way that they seemed to be ready to follow her every command pulled at her and she felt the weight of their stares on her.

Responsibility.

Duty.

Obligation.

Control.

Max sucked in a breath "Okay, you."

"Harley," the man said.

Max nodded. "I'm gonna need a sweep team going from one end of TC to the other. You good with kids?"

A strange smile crossed his face. "God, I hope so."

"Get a team together, use kids, freaks, mutants, anomalies, whatever. Section off so that ten cover each sector of Terminal City. I want every sewer duct, every vent shaft, every mouse hole plugged up tight. No one and nothing gets in or out without our knowledge. Understand?"

Harley fought the urge to salute. "Yes, ma'am."

Max scanned the crowds again, dismissing him. "You, you and you."

"Sigma"

"Meri."

"Ganko."

Max blinked. "Really? Those are your actual names?"

The three transgenics shrugged and Max just shook her head thinking that maybe she wasn't as bad at choosing names as she had thought. "Whatever. Look, we will be in a departmental meeting and need cover for any crisis that turns up. One to cover the screens, one to head off any emergencies and one to watch security while we have our meeting. Can you guys handle it?"

She looked at the three transgenics, two X-series and one anomaly that had arrived in the last batch of recruits. They had been inundated with people since the first Eyes Only broadcast, and admission showed no signs of slowing down.

"Sure," hissed Ganko, her snake eyes gleaming in the screen reflection. "I can keep eyes on all screens," she shrugged, "serpentine DNA."

"Nice," Max replied absently, her brain working hard as she tried to think of more that was needed.

As she stood there thinking hard, Ben arrived.

"Hey, Maxie."

"Ben," she greeted, still lost in thought.

"What can I do?" he offered simply, hating the way her eyes were so sad behind the stern exterior.

"Hmm?" she gnawed on the edge of her thumb and Ben reached up to grab her wrist.

"Maxie?"

She looked up and he gave her a supportive smile.

"I always said that this was a disgusting habit." He gestured to the chewed skin on the inside of her thumb and Max grimaced.

"Didn't realise I was doing it," she said with a shrug. "I have a huge responsibility now, Ben."

"Do you want the '09ers in on your meeting?" he grimaced at the nickname that had been bandied back and forth in his brief time there.

Max started to shake her head, knowing full well that there were issues between most Xs and the '09ers and that was one more thing that she really didn't need to deal with. But something struck her even as she opened her mouth to deny them.

"Actually, Ben, I think we could use you guys and any contacts that you have. Syl, Krit and Jondy arrived and I think Zack took them to new rooms. Can you fetch them for me?"

Ben nodded and muttered; "Yeah, family reunion, just what we need."

>

It took almost the full half hour for them all to crawl out of the woodwork and transgenics sat or perched on every available square of the large room.

Max hadn't realised how many department heads that Pix had had to appoint and her admiration for him grew in leaps and bounds as Xs, freaks, anomalies and non-humans appeared from all over Terminal City.

Dix wheeled a large screen television in the room and hooked it up to show the senate hearing and the transgenics had sat through more than twenty minutes of congressional bureaucracy and political back talk.

Max was getting a proper headache and was feeling more than the sudden urge to go down to the hearing and give herself up just to shut them all up.

She was merrily contemplating mass murder when one of the Senators stood up.

"And now on the agenda we have the transgenic issue which has plagued our fair city for months."

Everyone in the room sat up in rapt attention as the various men began spewing supposed details of transgenic appearances and other facts and figures most obviously made up but a few hit close enough to home to have some of the watching transgenics wincing.

The transgenics stared at the television with nervous expressions of distaste and hatred as Ames White came into view.

Alec had a sudden thought. "Hey, Dix, can you pull a pic off this?"

Dix nodded. "Sure, I can link up—"

Alec held up a hand. "Spare me the details. But hike a picture of our friend Ames here and make copies. We'll want it circulated to every single transgenic."

"Know thy enemy," Zan nodded, seeing where Alec was going with this.

"Great idea," Max agreed and Dix hurried to get the cables needed.

Max folded her arms and leaned against the wall, glaring at the man who was making her life a misery.

The picture was tiny and crackled sporadically with static but it was clear enough to show what was going on. The courtroom where they were holding the Senate hearing was large and done out in faded wood and forest green, adding an element of elegance to the trial; an elegance that masked the hideous agenda within.

_How can pretty furnishing hide massacre_? Thought Max as she shivered.

Amidst the dark suits and briefcases bulbs flashed and cameras whirled as the blood-thirsty news hounds tried to capture the feelings within the Senate.

Cece gnawed on a nail as the screen showed Ames White dressed in his black suit, looking very morbid and not at all dangerous.

Misleading.

There, in all his midnight Armani tailored glory, with his handsome chiselled all-American collegiate looks, sat the devil.

Feen looked into those baby blue eyes and found nothing. No hint of warmth, compassion or humanity. She reached for Techie who was suddenly surprised to find his arms full of red-head. He looked down into her pale face and tightened his arms around her.

Senator McKinley straightened as he dismissed the last witness, barely holding in an air of suppressed boredom at the stale and uneventful proceedings.

"Committee calls to the stand Special Agent Ames White."

White stood up and walked with confident measure to the stand. He placed his hand on the court-provided Bible and held a hand to his heart.

"I swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth."

Alec's eyes narrowed. "Damn thing should burst into flames."

"The Bible or the Agent?" Flex said with a hard jaw.

"Both."

"Shhh," Skye said her eyes intent on the screen.

"Now, Agent White, I'm sure you've been instructed by counsel and by your superiors to invoke your Fifth Amendment right. But I want to remind you, as an officer of this committee and as your fellow American, that all this committee is interested in is truth."

"Since when?" exploded Zan.

"Zan?" Max said absently shaking her head at Zan who settled back at her tone.

"Do you think he will tell about us?" Sunny asked. "Surely it can't be in his best interest."

Biggs ran a hand over her hair. "We'll find out soon."

White stood up. "The truth, sir, is quite simple."

Zan scoffed and Aiden bit his lip.

"Did parties within our government secretly divert funds for genetic experiments? Yes."

There was a swift intake of breath even as the crowd began to mutter.

"Did they allow those transgenics to escape? Yes. Did they then choose to withhold that information from the American people? Yes. Are those transgenics dangerous? Most assuredly, yes. And I cannot, in good conscience, continue to be part of this cover-up."

He took a deep breath playing up to his riveted audience. "These transgenics are a great threat to our national security and our American way of life. They are unnatural, monsters made in labs. Make no mistake. This is a war… a war we cannot afford to lose."

The committee was in uproar as he stood down, his superiors looked furious and the Senator looked proud as the news reporters drew in closer, baying for blood, asking questions and demanding answers.

"Off."

Everyone looked around.

"Off!" Max all but shouted and Mole fumbled for the control, turning the picture to black.

Everyone's eyes were on Max as she walked to the window and stared out at the darkness that had fallen outside.

Down below the dusty windowpane played children; children with tails, and ears that fell to their shoulders. Over on one side of Terminal City was a place where the anomalies lived and Max could just make out a female hanging tattered clothes on a line and calling to a small boy to wash his flippers for dinner.

There were a small gang of transgenic teens throwing dice for a ripped jacket out on Oak Street and Joshua was helping Icarus carry out the rubbish from the kitchen.

_A threat._

Out there were families who had been tortured in the basements of Manticore for all their lives.

_Monsters._

Out there were children who had never even seen a balloon.

_Unnatural._

Out there were adults who had been on the run for ten years to avoid being captured and caged.

_Dangerous_.

Out there was a man who had made every day in hell something to laugh about and he was dying.

Because of humans.

And _they_ were dangerous?

Max's hands clenched so tight she could feel her nails digging into her veins. Something tickled her cheek and looked at the reflection of the tear in the window; the silvery trail glistening as it fell.

She swiped it away impatiently and turned back to her troops, her eyes hard and her mind made up.

"Max?" Zan asked. "You all right?"

"No," Max said quietly, her head to one side. "I'm not all right. I'll never be all right and you wanna know why?"

Silence.

Max suddenly pointed to Zack and Ben, Syl, Jondy, Krit and Jace.

"Ten years and they never stopped running, never stopped looking over their shoulder for the monster to bite." She swept around the room. "Ten years and _he_ never stopped. One man and they lived in fear. Now we don't have one man, we have an entire nation- an entire world who wants us dead. We can't run and we can't hide and we can't pretend that this can't happen, won't happen… isn't happening, because it just has and we've run out of time. We may have been trained but we're not ready for this."

They all looked at each other in dismay.

"Max—?" Alec began.

She held up a hand. "Newsflash._ They_ are not ready for this. I will not spend my life on the run, I will not hide. Anyone who wants to leave better get out now and run. They made us, and they trained us to be soldiers, to defend this country. It's time for them to face us and take responsibility, instead of trying to sweep us away like garbage. We were made in America and we're not going anywhere. They _made_ us for war and, by God, I will not go down without a fight."

She pointed to the screen.

"He wants a war; then we'll give him a war."

"Amen," Mole said around his cigar.

Alec swallowed as he saw beneath the harsh exterior, beneath the attitude and the militant hatred; he saw the hurt underneath and all he wanted to do was to gather her into his arms and never let her go.

"Feen," Max continued, "gather the head of every Unit; I need a census of who can fight and who has special skills. Biggs, Sunny, I want full scale security on every exit. I need weaponry—Mole on that." She pointed and the Lizard-man leaped to his feet.

"Got it."

"Techie, take your technicians team, I need eyes on every inch of this place. A mouse sneezes and I wanna know about it."

Techie nodded, grabbing his chart and nodding to Dix and Luke.

"Drew, head up a team to go out and get supplies. We need low key operations now; take kids, take Jay and Gem. Take the sewer exits away from Terminal City. Don't be seen."

"Gotcha," she got up to leave, but Max grabbed her arm.

Max waited until she met her eyes. "Be. Careful."

Drew nodded slowly and left quickly.

Max glanced around at the non- X-series heads all staring at her. "Every department head needs to make preparations. Close ranks and up supplies. I want full lists of what we have, who we have, what we need and its level of importance. Rations and acquisitions might be low. Tell me what we need to survive."

The department heads left in a hurry, urged on by her tone.

"B.J., I need you to rig up some kind of explosives that are small, compact and deliver more smoke than Mole."

"Diversionary bombs," said their resident detonations expert. "Got it."

Max ran her fingers through her hair.

"Zack?"

Her big brother stood to attention. "Ma'am?"

Max started and was suddenly wrong-footed at his abject obedience. "I—uh, do you have many contacts around the city?"

"I can get Russian RGN3s," Syl piped up.

"I can get explosives," Krit added. "I'll help that B.J. guy."

"Me too!" Jace said quickly and followed him out.

"I have a few contacts around the city," Zack said, answering her question. "I can get what you need."

"I need anything and everything that we can get our hands on," Max admitted. "Pix did—does his best but we get more influx than we can handle. Food, munitions, med supplies especially are what we really need."

"I'm on it," Zack smiled and touched her shoulder. "I am so proud of you, baby sister. You grew up good."

He left Max with her heart in her throat and tears in her eyes.

Jondy smiled as her sister swallowed hard.

"He gets ya like that sometimes."

Max could just nod.

"You got any contacts?" she managed eventually.

"Babe," Jondy said casually with her eyes rolling. "I'm from San Francisco, you don't even have to ask. What do you want? I could probably get you nukes for a dollar."

Max smiled. "Whatever you can get, boo."

"I'm on it!" Jondy drawled and sped off in a long legged gait that had more than one head turning.

"Max?" Aiden asked from his corner. "You got jobs for us too?"

Max looked at those who were left in the main command centre. Tara and Dek were still in the infirmary with Chance and Pix, which left Aiden, Zan, Emma, Cece, Flex and Skye and, of course, Alec.

"Okay, I have three jobs left," Max said wracking her brains for anything that she had forgotten. "I need someone to help some X called Harley to plug up the holes in Terminal City."

Cece bristled. "That X happens to be my mate."

"Really?" Alec teased.

"Well," Cece blushed. "He said he wanted the job."

"Great," Max continued over the top of their teasing. "You okay with helping him out?"

She nodded. "I can do that."

"Go then." Max gave Cece a rare smile and turned back to her friends. "Skye, Flex, Emma, we are going to be fighting a war soon and there are a hell of a lot of kids and transgenics that either can't, or won't fight. I need you to find some system of getting them out of Terminal City or, at least, some way of monitoring them."

Flex leaned back on his chair, thinking hard about the problem. "We can rig up some safety point that they could go to when fights break out and have drills so that they know what to do in emergencies."

"Icarus, Isacar and Nyx can help with gathering kids," Skye said.

"And they'll need moral aid," Emma nodded, knowing why she was there.

Alec watched as Max dispatched the troops like she had been born to command—which she had.

"If you guys could get on that I would be appreciative."

"Sure," Skye stood and grabbed Flex's hand, motioning for Emma to follow her out.

Max looked at the three men left in the room. The three men who she trusted with her life and the life of her people.

"Aiden, Zan," she looked tenderly at the last, "Alec. You three have a somewhat different mission."

"Name it," Zan said with his usual abject trust.

"In any siege situation the first thing that usually runs low is water, even before morale. If they try to barricade us in, we will need a fresh supply of water coming in to Terminal City." She started to pace. "We have Techie and our other electricians who can hook us up to power cables and generators for power. We have kids who can get food. But water is the one thing we can't produce by ourselves."

"Damn Xs won't stand still long enough for us to milk them," Aiden said randomly.

Zan chuckled but got back to business. "I've talked with Pix about making a water purification system for rainwater," Zan admitted. "That should be up and functioning soon."

"But even in Seattle we won't get enough rain to satisfy everyone," she said regretfully.

"Can't we move everyone to England?" Aiden joked.

"Terminal City isn't far from the bay," Alec sad thoughtfully. "If we could find some way of transferring underground pipes from the bay to TC we could have all the water we want."

"I don't care how it gets done, just get it done," Max said with a smile to soften her words and walked out to leave the three men to plan how to do that.

She was about ten feet from the door when Alec caught up with her.

"Max," he looked back into the room. "I realise how important water is, but don't you need me by your side on this? You need a second in command."

In truth he was more than slightly put out at the fact that she seemed to be able to cast him aside at a moments notice. He had noticed her little tête-à-tête with Ben earlier and he was feeling more than a little jealous.

It wasn't that he thought that she had any feelings for Ben other than familial ones, but she had once almost refused to speak to him ever again for coming between her and her brother, and that was the last thing that he needed.

Especially since he had been told in an aside from Dek that Ben _really_ didn't like him. It wasn't a surprise, but the fact that Dek was almost warning him was.

He'd asked him how he knew and Dek replied with his usual forthrightness. "Oh, I told him I hate you too. He seemed kind of interested. Just watch your back, bro, okay?"

Alec had agreed to keep an eye out and was on the watch for Ben, but at the same time he wanted to show Max that he was taking her seriously.

Max, for her part, had her head so full of plans and strategy that it took a moment for her to realise that Alec had followed her out.

"What?" she said distractedly.

"You need a 2IC," Alec said succinctly, his temper beginning to grow. "I realise that I may not be as great a choice as Pix, or, hell, even Ben. But I am your mate, Max. You need someone to ensure that your orders are carried out. I can do that."

Max rubbed her forehead and tucked one long strand of hair behind her ear. "I appreciate that, Alec. But I really need you to do your job. We need that water."

"Yeah," Alec grabbed her arm, "and there are a million transgenics around here capable of dealing with that. Max, I'm starting to feel a little…superfluous."

"To what? The transgenics?" Max sighed. She really didn't have time for this. "We all have some trouble making our own way here and we—"

"Superfluous to you," he corrected. "Some days it doesn't feel like we are a couple at all, Max."

Max was exasperated. "What?"

Alec rolled his eyes in disgust. "You know what? Forget it."

"No," Max lost her temper and grabbed his arm, dragging him into a nearby room where she could let vent properly. "Let's talk about this now, huh?"

"Max."

"Let's talk about this while I am trying to keep Terminal City from being seized. Let's talk about this while I'm trying to keep us from being starved, or shot at or goddamn lynched! I have a war to plan, a city to run, supplies to find, transgenics to lead and Pix in the hospital. But, no, let me take a minute to pacify your ego."

"That's it!" he pointed at her viciously. "_You_ have a city to run, _you_ have people to lead. What happened to 'we', Max? You need my help. I'm your mate, I love you and you can't do this all by yourself. We were both COs, unless you've forgotten. I was CO of Unit 8 and co-CO with you for most of the time. We commanded together. We made a good team."

"And yet you were comfortable leaving me on my own when it suited you." Max regretted the words as soon as they were out of her mouth and she winced as the shutters came down on Alec's expression.

"Shit," she said softly. "I'm sorry."

"No big." He held his arms wide, as if presenting a bigger target. "Take another shot."

"Dammit, Alec," she swiped her hand across her forehead again.

"I let you down before, and I'm sorry," Alec said quietly. "But I want to be here for you now, Max. Don't shut me out. I'm trying."

They were silent for a moment.

"I don't know what to do here," she admitted. "All Manticore's training and I have no idea what I'm doing. I'm making it up as I go along and I feel so damn unprepared for all this."

"You seemed to be doing well." He leaned back against the wall and slipped his hands into his pockets.

Max shrugged. "Yeah. Its amazing how easy it is to make people believe that you are in charge when you speak loudly and pretend you have some idea of what's going on."

"I did wonder when you ordered all the paperwork," Alec said with a hint of his old grin. "When in doubt, fill forms out."

"Thanks." Max rolled her eyes. "Appreciate that."

"Seriously though, Max. We made a good team in Manticore. I just want that back."

"All of it?" she said with one eyebrow raised. "If I remember right we didn't touch or kiss or… anything back then. And I was more likely to smack you than talk to you."

Alec's smirk was lecherous in the extreme. "Oh, so maybe not everything then." He reached over and pulled Max to him, aligning her hips with his, and dragging her in for a hot, intense, deep kiss.

When they broke away he looked deep into her eyes.

"Better?"

"Much," she sighed. "Okay, so you want to be my second?"

Alec nodded. "Do I have to audition?"

Max licked her lips and pulled away. "You've just passed the practical."

Alec laughed, started to chase her and then paused. "Uh, are there any other candidates?"

"Sure," Max eyed him. "I'm going to go make out with Drew."

He hesitated in his steps. "Should I be jealous… or turned on?"

"Well, what with me and you, me and Dek, Drew and Dek and your twin and Drew. Drew and I should complete the circle quite well. All we need is then you and Drew and it's all done."

"Or me and Dek,"

"Or you and Ben."

"That will never happen," he all but growled.

"But you and Dek is a possibility?" Max seemed intrigued by the idea and Alec pouted.

"I think someone, somewhere is laughing at me."

"It's probably me." Deciding that she needed to get back to her commitments, Max took a deep breath. "Consider yourself hired, pretty boy."

"Yay. Is there a good pension plan?"

"You won't live that long," Max shot back, heading for the door.

"Great." Alec paused as he headed out of command. "Hey, Max, you do realise that if we pull this whole siege thing off, you'll be infamous. You'll be known as the leader of the transgenics and gain immortality."

Max scoffed. "I don't want to achieve immortality through my work. I want to achieve immortality through not dying."

Alec nodded. "Amen to that."

>>>>

Chance closed her eyes; her heart aching at the very sight of her lover so broken and battered. It didn't even look like Pix now. It looked… like an 'it'.

Tears slipped out from closed lids as she rocked back and forth cursing the fact that she couldn't get over this weakness despite having always believed that she was stronger than this.

But this wasn't her sweet, carefree mate. This broken husk, this tortured shell didn't have the same bright eyes and dazzling smile that Pix did.

She didn't want to touch him; didn't want to let her fingers touch those bruises, those slashes and gashes.

She made herself sick.

No matter what he looked like, this was Pix—he had always been there for her, why the hell couldn't she be there for him now?

Chance wiped sweat-soaked palms on her trousers and forced herself to take inventory of Pix.

His mischievous eyes were swollen shut, the vivid red and purple skin a contrast with the deadly pale traces that she could see from his nose to his mouth.

His kissable lips were split and that was all she could see over the shockingly white hospital sheet.

A shuddery breath escaped her and alerted Tara to the fact that Chance was no longer sobbing.

She walked over, handing her clipboard to Dek and gestured for him to leave for a moment.

Dek took one look at the pitiful figure of Chance and nodded, leaving without a word.

Tara strode over and grasped Pix's limp wrist, timing his speeding pulse against her watch.

"A touch fast," she murmured and looked down into the tear-stained face of Chance.

"Chance?"

Chance sniffled and swiped at her cheeks. "Is he gonna wake up?"

Tara regarded her silently for a long moment.

Tara had been taken away from her Unit before she was old enough to tie her own shoes because she had proven gifted in pre-medical training. She had visited some of the hottest war zones on the planet and had dealt with death and destruction. She had seen some of the worst things that humans could do to each other; she knew the damage that people were both capable of and capable of surviving. She'd dealt with death and decapitations before she'd ever had a date. She'd operated on soldiers before she'd grown tall enough to see over the table and she'd seen autopsies before ever seeing a movie.

It gave her something of an advantage over her peers in that she was rarely shocked by what they had to do or what they'd gone through. It was more personal when it was her friends but she still managed to find that calm place inside where she had always gone when things got too much for her.

As she looked at the girl who was much the same age, crying over her mate, Tara felt something stir besides pity.

Annoyance.

Why was it okay for Chance to sob over Pix when he wasn't even dead, when Tara had been beaten for crying over that cancer-riddled soldier in Azerbaijan? Why could Chance sniff and snivel over someone who had every chance of living when Tara hadn't been allowed to mourn those that she had lost?

Chance had Biggs to hug and tell her that he'd always be there. Ben had held her in his arms even though he barely knew her. Max was on hand for constant support.

Who had held Tara in the wilds of Africa when an entire platoon was blown up in front of her? Who had kissed her when she lay by the side of her only friend who was internally haemorrhaging? Who had told her it was all right when the guerrilla group in Uruguay raped that group of women she was staying with, when they'd looted the village before being slaughtered by Manticore soldiers?

Tara sat by the edge of the bed and stared, stony faced at Chance.

"He might live," she said. "But it would be better if he dies."

Chance's jaw dropped as her head whipped towards the blonde.

"What?" she croaked.

Tara shrugged nonchalantly. "I'm saying that he would probably be better off dead."

"How can you say that?" demanded Chance, her hand reaching for the one discarded by Tara; touching him for the first time, despite her misgivings. Any doubts that Tara had about being too harsh were washed away when she saw the effects her words had on the young girl. People had pussy-footed around Chance too much.

Perhaps what she really needed to make her stand on her own two feet was opposition, not understanding.

Be cruel to be kind? Tara could do that.

"He has cracked ribs, broken bones—all healable," Tara said almost idly. "The bruises will fade; the blood will dry, flake and wash off. But he was hit on the head. Several times with blunt, heavy instruments. They cracked his skull and caused some subdural haemorrhaging. The pressure of blood on his brain could cause irreparable damage. Oh, he'll come around, there's no question about that. But the longer it takes the more chance there is of permanent brain damage."

"Br—" Chance couldn't even get the words out.

"Memory loss," Tara continued, seemingly uncaring of the emotional turmoil of the girl beside her turning paler with ever word, "that's the best scenario, of course. He might have short term memory loss—doesn't recall what happened or why. Maybe mid-term— thinks we are back in Manticore— but then again, complete memory loss and loss of identity is also a possibility."

"Stop."

"If it isn't memory loss, it might be complete reversal of personality. I read of a man who went psycho after a car crash and killed his entire family."

"Tara."

"But then again, he could end up brain damaged. A complete vegetable; incapable of even the most basic of bodily functions."

"Stop it!"

"In that case he'd still be better off dead; because even in a vegetative state he could still see and hear all around him."

"God, stop it!"

"Because if he could hear, it would break his heart and his spirit to see you— to hear you— weeping and crying over him like some useless baby."

Tara turned hard eyes to a shocked and horrified Chance.

"You. Are. Pathetic," she said succinctly. "He's not dead yet. He's probably in a coma knowing full well that you can't even bring yourself to touch the man who saved your life every day back in Manticore. The one man who stood up for you; the one man who always was there telling you to be yourself. Pix is supposed to be your mate. You think if the roles were reversed, he'd be sat in a chair on the opposite side of the room, not even wanting to look at you?" She shook her head. "No. He'd be massaging your muscles so they didn't atrophy. He'd be demanding to feed you. He'd move the heaven and earth to make you better and you sit there as if everyone should feel sorry for _you._"

Tara stood up. "You know what? For Pix's sake; I hope he dies."

She walked over to the other side of the room both revelling in the stunned silence and feeling ashamed of it. She was a doctor, supposed to make people better and she had just torn Chance down in her time of need.

_Good_, a part of her yelled. _Maybe that will shake her up, make her think twice about her little pity party._

She busied herself with tidying up the bandages and checking their supplies of medication.

Suddenly she felt a presence behind her and turned to see Chance standing there.

"Brain damage?" challenged Chance, her eyes dry.

"Gonna cry?" Tara shot back, her tone adversarial.

Chance swallowed once and then glanced over at the bed. Straightening her shoulders she met Tara's eyes unflinchingly. "What do I have to do?"

Tara gave her a once over and her dark eyes appraised the woman's sincerity.

"Okay, she said finally. "You need to start massaging his muscles. Start at the feet. The last thing we need is for his muscles to atrophy or for him to get bed sores."

Chance agreed and headed over to the bed.

The two women worked in silence for a while before Chance spoke up. "That was evil. I hate you, you know?"

Tara smiled; glad to see some evidence of a backbone, however late it was in developing. "Now ask me if I care."

She could see a small smile on Chance's face at that and they settled back to their tasks.

They were interrupted moments later by the re-entrance of Dek who gave Tara a look as if to ask of she were done. Once Tara nodded he walked over to Pix's bed immediately.

"How's he doing?" he asked as he trailed his hand over Pix's dishevelled locks.

"He's been better," Tara replied.

Dek nodded and watched Chance for a moment. "Here, doll, you're doing that wrong." He reached over to show her how to rotate the limbs and exercise them. As she continued the movements he suddenly went silent and rueful smile crossed his face.

"What?" Chance said.

"I was just thinking," Dek said softly, "that I wished Mets was here." He shook himself. "You'll never get me to repeat that and I'll deny it if you tell anyone. It's just that he was great at physical therapy and, he could be quite… funny at times."

The two girls turned to watch him in shock but he was lost in thought and delving in memory.

They had rarely seen Dek so quiet, he was the one who cracked jokes and added witty sarcasm to every situation and, he had once confessed, that he was physically incapable of seriousness. But now he looked so grave that they both felt their pain even more through him.

"I never ever thought we'd come to this. Steve and Biggs dead, Coco missing, Anna, god knows where, and Pix… here." His shaky hand touched Pix's head. "Fallen friends and missing mates. Growing up sure is hard," he gave a bitter laugh and was shocked to find his eyes filling with tears.

He knelt at the side of the bed and spoke directly into Pix's ear. "Pix, you have always made me laugh. No matter how evil things were in Manticore, your humour and pranks were, sometimes, all that kept me going and stopped me committing heinous acts of murder on small Xs. In a world of darkness you were our light and I swear… I swear… to Lydecker, Renfro and any powers that listen to transgenics, that if you don't come back to us, wake up and get your ass off this bed, I will personally come and find you, no matter what level of hell they invented just for you, and I will kick your ass so hard they'll find pieces of your butt and my shoes in Wyoming! Now get up you lazy son of a bitch, we have work to do!"

Tara folded her arms and leaned against Chance. "Quite the inspirational speaker, isn't he?"

"I'm choked up."

"Ah, bite me," Dek said as he clambered to his feet and grabbed the medication off Tara. "Don't you guys have work to do to?"

The girls exchanged glances. "Yeah."

"Then go to it," he straightened his sleeves and tapped the syringe. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a man to dope up."

* * *

**_Well, that was relatively painless. So Pix is in a coma, Chance is wet and Alec is needy. Lord makes you wish the bad guys would hurry up and annihilate them already._**

**_I really wish I had time and space to answer all the reviews that were sent, I'll make do with mentioning names again—so sorry but RL is frantic right now._**

Crazy-VampireSlayer

Geminangel

Moonangel18

Eganone

SakuraAkira365

Sweet tweety 06- Don't cry in the middle of class- Hamlet is a comedy (well, I laughed- Ophelia- yeah she had all her marbles.) I think Max will slaughter all who hurt her Pix.

BlueJean452- Hardcore transgenic- sounds like a rock band.

KrzyRiver

Feenian- LOL, shame on me?

Peatrie

Sigma1

Vega- Thank you, pet.

WerrieAnna- What kill no one at all? Thank you so much for your kind words and I hope you do enjoy what I do with the remaining chapters. Big hugs for you.

Susamaroos

Pinkflipflop3- Aw don't cry, well actually do since it shows how you like the fic. Don't be mad and ill update faster, I swear.

Dawns heart/ Elyra

Black Rose9- Jondy is awesome, I love her. Incoherence is fun. More of that then.

A reader- Ben and Dek rock, all is good while Pix still breathes.

KiaraKlay- hey. I think I stole your powers of speech. Yay me.

Spuffyshipper- I was a HUGE X files fan. Loved Mulder to distraction. Home creeped me out seriously.

BlueAngel137

Kim- LOL, Cece is pregnant! I can't kill her off. Yet. Aw I'm sorry I made you cry. LOL, I'm guessing that you don't me to kill Pix off. Hmm?

Aku-neko – 18-21- gracias.

Toniboo

Charlotte- cheers pet, I will try to add some more Zack/ Emma in there.

Ganko- you know how I like top lull you into a false sense of security. The supernatural reference was a must! Humour for me is a necessity. Hope you enjoy your cameo.

ArrowOfHikaru

Moonlite star

Ganko- okay I'll update, just need to find that---

Spiritkez

Nevan- I'll take votes. Who would you like to die?

SGOU- I wondered what it would take to get you reviewing again? So all I have to do is attack Alec? Done.

Jenwin23- there was reasoning behind it, pet. Trust me, I know what I'm doing and if I don't at least I can fake it well enough to pass.

Wickedfaery494

Lynsi

AngelofDarkness231

Mely- love each other? Where would be the fun in that? A good old fashioned naked fight between the brothers…uh, did I say naked? I meant uh… uh.

Chiki-b- hey there. Sometimes real life bites me and I have to stop fro a bit but I do try not to let RL get in the way of what is truly important, that being my fic! Ben's reasoning will be fully explained in the next instalment, trust me when I say that this guy has issues. Sorry I almost made you cry, I'll try harder next time.

Mae- good luck with that and also hope the phone works for you. What network?

Chaosti

Angelp316

Clare328

Timetowaste247

Lotamoxie


	23. 19b Hope in the darkness

**A/N-** A few things. Firstly No, Biggs isn't dead. I made a typo-- it happens.

Secondly, you MAY have noticed that some of you have recieved a cameo in this and the next chapter-- because I am wonderful and I love you all. I am writing a SHORT SHORT SHORT story with all the transgenics in to finish-- all at Coco's wedding and **I would like to reward my faithful reviewers with a cameo**. SOOOOO, if you want a role in a Transgenic Wedding- review and leave me a useable name.

Thirdly- I would Love to hit 1000 reviews by this stories end so i am basically BEGGING for reviews. I will do whatever to get them too.

One girl asked for a Zack/ Emma thing and voila, one asked for a naked Alec/ Ben fight and...well, mostly naked-- see,be nice to me and I'm nice to you!

**

* * *

Part b- Hope in the darkness **

It was Luke who saw the news first and that was because he had been assigned to screen detail along with Sigma, who had been giving the sweet trench digger side-long glances.

He had been so nervous over her attentions that his sweaty hands slipped on the controls and the channel switched to a late news update. It was testament to how tied up she had his insides that it took several seconds for his brain to work out what it was that he seeing.

"Oh, crap!"

"What?" Sigma was at his side in a moment, her sweet scent momentarily distracting him.

Luke just pointed at the screen and she repeated his curse with more enthusiasm.

"Shall I get 452?" she asked and Luke nodded.

"This is not good," he said as she sped off.

"What's the problem?" Alec asked from across the other side of the command panel. He looked up and saw his own face, pale and distraught on the screen.

He dropped his notepad and hurried over to the screens. "What the hell?"

"They had hover drones over where you and Max were," Luke said unnecessarily.

Alec watched as his own face disappeared into the blood soaked body of his friend and Max stood, streaked with red and hands on her hips like a fierce warrior, prepared to do battle.

Her face was set in a mask that would have scared anyone. Her face—_her face!_

Alec swore long and hard. "They have our faces," he spat, "on camera. Every jack man is gonna know what we look like."

"And here come the cavalry," Luke said as the crowds stood back, allowing the transgenics to corner them.

Mole's face came up clearly, as did Tara's, and Alec watched as a dark figured Max grabbed the camera guy in what looked like a fierce grip and pushed him to the body of Pix.

"What the hell's going on?" Max asked as she shouldered into the crowds that had gathered.

"They caught us on candid camera," Alec said in disgust as the footage played on.

Max's reply was short, succinct and would have done a sailor proud. They both watched as Tara and Alec raced off with Pix's body and Max started yelling at the crowds. Every word was clearly echoed and sounded that much worse when combined with the reactions of the crowd as they stepped away from the irate transgenic.

"You said that?" Luke winced. "I can see why we never assigned you to personnel."

"Kiss my transgenic ass," Max said absently, her eyes intent on the screen. "Did they show the chase?"

"You mean; do they know where we are?" Mole asked from near the window, puffing away on his cigar. "I think the answer to that is self explanatory, Princess."

Max turned to look at him and caught her breath at the seriousness of his expression.

She looked out of the window and her heart sank at the myriads of vans squealing up at the entrance to Terminal City.

"This is bad."

Alec joined her as people seemed to crawl out of the woodwork like locusts, brandishing placards and torches, looking every bit like extras from a Dracula mob movie. They surrounded the front gate and took up a chant.

"Oh, this is so very bad," Alec repeated.

"Gets worse," Mole said and nodded towards the entrance where reporters almost miraculously appeared.

Max backed away from the window. "Meri, get word to the front line, no one goes near those gates."

"Aye, aye," Meri said and raced off to spread the word.

"We're screwed," Dix spat.

"A little less negativity, please." Alec tried for levity.

Dix looked at him for a second. "We're screwed," he said, his tone almost pleasant.

"Thank you." Alec tried to grin but failed miserably. "Everyone needs to be on full alert. Can you rig up some alarm system so we can tell when we are under attack?"

"Sure," Techie nodded and reached for his tool kit, calling Isacar even as he walked away.

Alec bit his lip as he looked out the window. "I guess our plans of re-joining Jam Pony are out, huh, Max? Max?" Alec turned to find her watching the screen again.

Max said nothing, her eyes focussed on the moving images.

Alec came up behind her quietly, not understanding why she was now so silent. Shouldn't she be issuing orders and making plans? Would she be mad if he took over? Someone had to speak and he knew what he was doing.

"Max?" he all but whispered.

Max's thoughts were in a whirl as she watched herself in the monitor.

Her picture flickered out a woman stepped onto the screen, her pressed suit pristine.

"Good evening. I'm Ellen Emi,"

"And I'm Kenney Smith for SR5, Seattle's hottest and most up to the minute news. We're here with our viewers talking about the latest danger affecting our nation- transgenics. Earlier today—"

Max blocked out the sound of the speaker.

It was all happening at once, it was too much; too damn much.

What the hell was she supposed to do now? They had protestors and reporters camped outsides their front door; they had White knowing where they lived and what they were about and Lydecker working in conjunction with him, even though he had been quiet of late.

Max had been trying to organize a war but she had just run out of time.

People knew who what they were. People knew where they were.

What was she supposed to do?

_Think, Maxie, Think._ She ordered herself. _What needs to be done?_ _Supplies- already got people foraging and hunting for food; Aiden and Zan are dealing with the water situation. Security- I have Harley and Cece checking for entrances and Techie and Dix working on looking over every area. I have Jay set up guard detail, Biggs and Sunny working each corner. Mole on munitions and B.J. and company on explosives. Feen is dealing with the newcomers… What am I missing?_

"So are you saying that you personally know a transgenic?"

Max turned as the reporter she had been filtering out spoke up.

"Yeah, I guess I do."

"Sketchy!" Alec cried as he stared at the familiar tousled hair on the screen.

"Can you tell us more, sir?" the female moved in closer.

"The girl on the footage you showed," he said uncertainly. "Her name is Max and she's—"

"A transgenic?" the reporter suggested as he paused.

"Yeah," he gave his goofy smile. "I never realised it before, but she must have been."

"You've been in close contact with her?"

"Sure, dude," Sketchy said. "She beats me at arm wrestling every time we go out."

The reporter took a step back as if Sketchy were carrying some disease. "You have heard the stories that they are a public menace?"

"Max?" Sketchy scoffed. "No way, man. She kicks ass, sure. But danger to America? Hardly. In fact," his voice went soft, "she's the best person I know. She's bailed me out of trouble no end of times and, dude, she'd give you her last dollar." He seemed to pause and looked directly at the camera. "Max, if you're watching, I'm totally on your side. Tell me what you need and you got it."

The reporter pushed. "So you're saying they're not all monsters?"

"No way. Not Max."

"What about me?" Alec pouted, but his eyes were shining.

A grin spread over Max's face. "Ata boy, Sketch."

She knew what she had to do. But before she could make a move Sunny rushed in.

"Max, there's activity at the gates."

"We know." Max gestured to the screen but Sunny shook her head.

"No, I mean there is some guy who insists on seeing you."

"It may have escaped your notice, Duchess," Mole interjected with a glare, "but we are kinda busy."

"He insists," Sunny said.

"If it's a reporter," Max stated sweetly, "my answer is 'no comment'."

"It's someone from Manticore," Sunny hesitated. "At least I think it is. I recognise him."

Max frowned. "Who?"

"Said his name's Bill."

"Bill?" Max's forehead creased. "Bill wh—BILL!" she turned and raced for the gates.

Mole smirked. "Guess she knows him, then."

>>>

Colonel Donald Lydecker had a very tumultuous past littered with things that, while he may not have been proud of, he did for his country. He also had one hell of a temper and he realised that he was on the point of losing said temper and doing something that he would have been ashamed of in his youth but he saw real potential in now.

It was amazing how the opinion of torture changed depending on its recipient.

Right now he could quite happily spend hours peeling away the layers of skin that separated Ames White from his bones and dousing them in a mixture of lemon juice and nitric acid. He had listened in anger as White refused to deny the existence of transgenics but moved past fury, past lividness through sheer unadulterated hate. He not only wanted White dead, but wanted him to pay.

He wanted him to hurt and bleed and scream in pure anguish. He wanted blood to run and bones to break and he would not be satisfied until Ames lay battered and broken at his feet.

And just like the coward, he was nowhere to be found.

He had disappeared soon after that fiasco of a senate and Lydecker hoped and prayed that he'd get his hands on the little demon soon.

Thankfully he had sent Bill off once the news was out and maybe he'd be able to do some damage control with the transgenics.

All the plans he had had to get Bill to talk Max into voluntarily rejoining Manticore without pressure from outside forces were all for nought and he now had to devise another way to protect both his investment and his kids.

So White had decided to set the general populace on them? Maybe that would work in Lydecker's favour.

When the enemy hands you lemons…

>>>

Zack stared over the parapet and cracked his knuckles as he watched the crowds massing outside the gates.

He felt hedged in, cornered and caged and he hated the feeling with an intensity he normally reserved for his former 'boss'—Lydecker.

He knew that bringing in the '09ers wasn't the best of plans or the smartest move that he had ever made.

Now that the public was surrounding them he wondered with a sinking heart if he had brought his squad here to die.

It was almost ironic enough to make him laugh; he had spent years keeping them apart to keep them safe and the one time he had insisted that they all come together it might be their last.

He crouched down, kneeling on the granite roof and stared hatefully at the camera crews that pulled up.

His hair flew about in the breeze and he yanked a hand through it in as much irritation as frustration.

"You'll pull it out if you keep doing that," said a voice from behind him.

Zack merely sighed and shook his head. "I should shave it all off, they'll do it when they capture us anyway."

Emma walked slowly over and placed a hand on his taut shoulder. "Don't speak like that. Have a little faith, Zack."

"You sound like Ben." He shrugged off the hand and stood. "The only thing you can truly trust in is instinct. My instincts told me to go to ground and stay there and I chose to have 'faith' in Max. Now my people are in danger. That's on me."

"Are we not your people?" she said, an edge to her voice. "Cuz the last time I looked, you and me had pretty much the same DNA."

"You know what I mean." He waved his hand dismissively.

"Yeah." She nodded. "You feel responsible for allowing your squad to see their long lost baby sister, to allow them to have hope that they might not have to be on the run for the rest of their lives and live in fear. You feel bad that you've allowed them to have independent thought and maybe even to be around others who understand and can maybe explain some of the things that they have been or are going through. You're right, Zack. You're a monster."

His sharp eyes met her cool ones and he glared.

"This might get them killed."

"So instead of presenting their backs as they run away, they are standing their ground the way they want and might die on their feet as soldiers. Horror."

"You don't understand, Emma. You haven't been on the run for ten years. Hiding and being afr—wary of every shadow."

"No," she said succinctly as she tucked a red strand of hair behind her ear, annoyed at his reasoning. "I was in hell for the past ten years. Hell with your friends is still hell."

Zack had nothing to say to that and looked away but Emma wasn't done.

"Listen to me, Zack. You've done well by your team for ten years, but there comes a time when you have to stop making their decisions for them. They are more than capable of choosing their own destiny—" she paused, "—and choosing how they die."

"I'd rather they not die," he retorted bitterly.

Emma smiled softly. "It's not your choice. They are all growed up now, papa Zack. Let them go."

He gritted his teeth, taut lines in his chiselled jaw as he fought against the truth in her words.

Emma moved forward and ran her hands over his back, tucking her arms around his waist. "Maybe it's time to live for you, instead."

"I have responsibilities," he bit out. "I can't let them drop."

"Then share them," Emma countered, rubbing her cheek against the soft leather jacket he wore. She moved around to his front and captured his face in her hands, looking deeply into his hard blue eyes. "I happen to be a very good listener."

"I don't need a listener."

"What do you need?"

His answer was to immerse his hand in her tangled red hair and fuse his lips to hers.

Emma felt her whole body melt as his hard body begging for her to hold him close, his lips hot and hard as he plundered her mouth. Through the swirl of feeling she experienced, she could also feel his emotions pushing at the edge of her senses and she let her guard drop enough to let him in. His vulnerability masqueraded as desire, and his stance, his heart, his very blood cried out for her to show him that everything would be all right and that he wouldn't be alone anymore. He had been alone for so very long.

He needed reassurance that he would never ask for; too proud, too self-possessed, too scared.

Emma pulled back, gasping the words that he needed to hear. "I'm not leaving."

Zack gave her a lopsided grin that turned her heart over. "What makes you think I'd let you?"

As she laughed in giddy delight, he pulled her back and showed her how he'd keep her.

She had no complaints.

>>>

Although Max was uneasy at being in front of crowds who wanted to kill her, she was earnestly looking forward to seeing Bill.

The last time that she had seen him he had been waving from the front porch of his house whilst his daughter lay in bed benefiting from the application of Max's superior DNA.

Max had raced across the compound but halted within sight of the immense gates that supposedly kept the public from coming in.

Already she could see the effects of their encampment by the smashed bottles that littered the insides of the gates where they had been thrown by enraged and, probably, inebriated, humans.

She stepped carefully over them and made her way to the gates, listening to the cries of "transgenics are monsters" and "scum go home" that echoed around the near deserted entrance. Max was glad that she had insisted no one go near the fence that surrounded the city, but as she neared it she heard the echoes die down as people noticed her coming towards them.

Their hostile faces turned towards her with ill intent written in their eyes. She took a deep breath and scanned the crowds for the familiar face of her former mentor; and there he was.

He was the only one smiling at her and it soothed her insides to know that he wasn't against her.

A small smile graced her features and the faces in the crowds started to look confused at it, it was like they didn't think she could be happy.

Bill edged forwards, elbowing the crowds out of the way as he reached the wired fence.

"Hey, Maxie," he said softly, but she heard him. Even without her transgenic hearing she would have heard him. So attuned she was to his presence.

"Hey," she said softly and then glanced at the armed guards that surrounded the walls. "Let him in," she instructed and the transgenic guards shouldered their weapons, pulling back the bolts on the huge gates.

The crowd began to clamber to come inside but the appearance of fully armed guards dispelled their eagerness and Bill was able to slip in without anyone else following him.

As soon as he was in the gates, he enfolded Max in a huge hug.

"It's damn good to see you."

"You too," she responded with a sigh. When she had been younger she had pretended that Bill was her father and every time she saw him it was like recapturing that feeling of security that she had only felt in his presence. Wyoming had been especially harsh to her and he had been her haven—he was the one that she turned to when things got hard and he was the one that had brought her back to herself when she thought that she was lost.

Bill had kept her sane, kept her going and, more importantly, kept her alive.

Without a doubt he was the first person that she had ever really loved and those feelings swamped her as she held him tight.

He was the first to pull away and looked deep into her eyes.

"You," he said, "are not getting enough sleep."

Max gave a short burst of laughter. "Are you saying I look like crap?"

"What was the point of me giving you these fantastic genes if you don't use them to full affect, huh?" he teased.

"Shark DNA," she tossed back, their argument coming back to her like it was yesterday. "I sleep one night in four, what the hell were you thinking?"

"It was either that or fins," he mock glared, tapping her nose.

"You made the right choice," she acquiesced pointing him towards the central command. "So to what do I owe the pleasure?"

"Hey, can't a concerned fath—," he stopped and Max smiled.

"Concerned father?"

He rolled his eyes, ignoring the blush that spread over her face. "Can't I drop by and see my favourite transgenic without suspicion?"

"In these days?" Max raised an eyebrow at him and he nodded, his face clouding over.

"There is that."

Something in his voice made her stop.

"Bill?" she asked tentatively.

"He has Laura," Bill blurted. "He took Kelly and Laura and threatened me that if I didn't go back to Manticore."

"Yeah, well after he fired the best Dr Mengler's, who was left to do his dirty work?" Max said bitterly with a touch of panic to her voice as she eyed her friend. "Lydecker took them." She wasn't sure she dared ask the question. "Because of me?"

"In part," Bill hated putting that haunted look in Max's eyes. "I had to take Laura in for testing, standards procedure and someone found something odd about her blood and called the CDC. They called Lydecker and he held them ransom if I didn't come back to continue the work after the Seattle base DNA labs were blown. I can see them once a month, if I behave."

Max looked away. "I'm sorry."

"No, no, no," Bill grabber her hands. "I don't blame you, Max. If it weren't for you then Laura would be dead. I owe you and here I've brought trouble to your door."

Max half-smiled thinking about who really owed whom. Bill had been her saving grace and kept her alive. She could never repay him, but getting his family back would be a good start.

"What does Lydecker want?"

Bill paused a moment and then looked straight in her face, eyes sad. "You, Max. Lydecker wants you."

>>>

"Is Maxie around?" Ben asked as he walked into central command.

Alec rolled his eyes. The last thing he needed whilst Max was outside talking to Bill was this pretentious little upstart mixing things up.

"She's gone outside," he said shortly, consulting the list that he had taken upon himself as part of his duties as 2IC.

He had been serious when he had told Max that he wanted to help in more ways than just fixing the water situation. Max was his mate, no matter what arguments they had and what trials they faced; and part of that mate situation was Alec's need to protect, defend and shield Max from the worst things that life could throw at her.

But Max was the leader and, to some extent, she had never stopped being so; she wasn't in any need of protection or shielding and was actually the one taking care of everyone else.

Alec had tried to consign himself to the role of supporter rather than Alpha and his role was to help Max; not protect her. But the main point was that he wasn't just her lackey or her supporter. He had been CO in his own right and he was more than ready and far more than willing to shoulder some of the responsibilities.

That didn't stop him from wanting to shield Max from people like Ben whom he cheerfully would have strangled at any point.

He may have his issues with Dek and Zan, both men wanting Max's attentions; but Dek was still loyal to him, having been under Alec in Seattle before Max ever even arrived. He'd told Alec of Ben's dislike despite the fact that he found it amusing and Alec had realised that Ben had not only been irritating Alec, but trying to poison others against him too.

He was… pissed off, to say the least. But he was sure that if he separated Ben's head from his shoulders Max would cut him off… at least for a while.

"Had to escape, did she?" Ben said with a grin. "Don't blame her."

Alec scratched the back of his neck and tried to ignore Ben; he was Max's brother; he must have some good qualities.

"Did she leave you for an ordinary?"

Any good quality.

"No, I bet she's out doing whatever it is do-gooders do."

One thing—no matter how small.

"Can't argue with her command, only her taste in men."

Alec broke. "If I throw a stick, will you leave?"

Ben grinned. "And he comes up swinging. Exactly how long were you thinking of that comeback?"

"Not longer than your criminal record," Alec smirked. "Because you actually have one."

Ben's smile faded. "Everyone needs a hobby."

"And yours is pissing me off?"

"No, mine is being near Max. Pissing you off is a nice little bonus."

Alec took a deep breath. "Aren't you supposed to be off doing something somewhere that's…away? Cocking your leg against a hydrant? Playing hopscotch on the interstate? Oh, running with knives is in this season."

"And miss hanging around with the bane of my existence?" Ben shook his head. "Unlikely."

"Did the aliens forget to remove your anal probe?" Alec shot back. "What exactly has you so buzzed about me, huh? Is it because I get Max and you don't? Newsflash, _pal_, she doesn't want you."

It took supreme effort but Ben didn't wince; no matter how much that one hurt, he'd never show that kind of weakness to Alec.

The thing was that, since he had been here, he'd seen how close Max and Alec were. It was odd seeing someone with your face in the place that you most wanted to be. It was like a dream where you could see yourself and wanted desperately to be there but no matter how hard you tried, you knew that it'd never happen.

For Ben, who'd spent the majority of his life feeling like he was stuck in one never-ending nightmare, this was just one step too much.

What he'd really like to see, was for Alec to lose that cool that he surrounded himself with. He'd like to see Alec feel, just once, like he himself, did—like an outsider; like someone who didn't belong anywhere.

Failing that, he'd like for Alec to lose his temper so that, maybe, he'd see himself in Ben's face.

No matter the airs and graces that Alec gave himself; they were no different.

"When you get over yourself give me a call." Ben pretended to yawn. "This whole ego trip is stale. What makes you think I have a beef against you?"

Alec gave a short laugh. "The constant insults, the backbiting, oh, and lest I forget the fact that you have been spreading shit behind my back."

"No, that smell is you."

"Grow the hell up!" Alec said in disgust and turned away knowing that if he didn't he'd start a fight that he promised himself he wouldn't have.

He set Ben aside; like he was unimportant; like Ben didn't belong there.

"Don't turn your back on me," Ben spat with gritted teeth. "I'm not one of your subjects."

"No," Alec said. "You are one of Max's subjects. She doesn't want us to fight. **_I_** don't want to fight whilst we have this situation on our hands. So I'm not going to fight. Go away, Ben, you are not getting a rise out of me."

The back door opened and Alec watched as Aiden and Zan walked in, their faces animated with a discussion over water issues.

"Did you just dismiss me?" Ben said incredulously. "You royal suck up. Think your so fucking high and mighty just because you stayed home like a good little soldier?"

_Manticore_? Alec blinked. "Home?"

"Well, screw you, Alec. You are not my CO, in fact you're not anyone's CO."

"What's going on here?" Zan asked as their voices rose.

Aiden looked at the two identical men. "Maybe we shouldn't ask."

"Or maybe you should, huh?" Alec said, slamming the clipboard down and turning to face Ben. "Maybe they want to know too why you have such issues with me?"

"You're an asshole."

"May I introduce you to a little thing called logic? You're an ass but I'm not trying to gain a cult following— transgenics against amateur dentistry."

Ben's voice was as cold as the expression on his face. "Keep talking like that and I might feel the need to turn pro."

Aiden and Zan looked confused at each other even as Ben and Alec faced off.

"Here's a thought; if you feel so bad about it, don't do it."

"You're just like Zack," Ben spat, "laying down rules; constantly up heaving everything; screwing up everything and thinking that you can just walk in and ruin people's lives. Newsflash for you, jerk-off, I got on fine without you."

"Then go back. No one asked you come here."

Ben looked like he had been slapped in the face. _No one asked you to come here._

"Drew did," Zan spoke up. "I'm sure she said that she asked Ben to come along and I know one or two people that are glad that he's here."

"Thank you, Zan," Alec said, not taking his eyes off Ben, "your loyalty inspires me."

"I must have taken a wrong turn somewhere," Aiden said, "because I am totally lost."

"Let me sum it up for you," Ben said with acid in his voice. "I hate Alec because he is a pompous ass who likes to think he's in charge. Alec hates me because…I don't actually care."

Alec enlightened him. "Because you want Max."

"Oh, God, not another one," Aiden sighed. "Does she, like, taste of chocolate or something?"

"Wait, I thought you wanted Drew?" Zan said confused.

Ben shrugged. "I kinda like Dek."

Aiden wrinkled his nose, well and truly lost. "I thought you liked Max?"

"Not like that!" Ben rolled his eyes. "Sheesh!"

"And eww," added Zan.

Alec decided to get things back on track. "Because little brother Ben wants me out of the way he's been whispering malicious things about me to Dek, Pix and Zan."

Zan held up one hand. "I didn't like you much anyway."

"I know."

"Good. I did tell you that if you lost Max I'd sit back and mock."

"Is that an excuse for believing this ass?" Alec asked incredulously.

Zan shrugged awkwardly. "It's been a rough week."

Alec turned back to Ben. "It won't work, Ben. I'm staying here. I'm Max's mate, no matter what you guys do, we are together. Max, me. There's no place for you here, dentist boy."

_No place._

_Outsider._

Like he had been all his life.

Max was his home, had always been where he felt most grounded and no cheap imitation was going to take that away.

Over Ben's dead body… or Alec's—either would do.

Ben's grin was as startling as it was menacing. "Didn't your trainer ever tell you not to play with fire?"

"You're not fire," Alec taunted knowing that he was being childish but not caring. Ben was enough to try the patience of a saint. "You're wind. Hot air."

"And you're—" Ben hauled back his fist and let it fly into Alec's face. "—bruised," he finished.

Alec brought his hand up to his lip, touching the blood that trickled from the cut.

Dammit. He had goaded Ben into hitting him and he knew that, as the more mature one, he should stop the fight then and there. He was 2IC for Manticore's sake, Max depended on him, it didn't matter what some pretentious upstart thought or did. He should walk away.

Ben looked mockingly at him. "You bleed red, I was kinda expecting green. Isn't that what those inferior clones in the X files bled?"

Alec smeared the blood from his lip and drew a breath. "Inferior?"

Ben shrugged, gleefully. "Call it like I see it."

Alec took a deep breath. He wasn't going to do this. He wasn't.

"Guess someone had their fair share of chicken DNA."

"I'm not afraid of you, Ben. I'm not afraid to fight you. I just don't see why I should."

This wasn't going according to plan, thought Ben. Alec wasn't supposed to come off as the mature one. He wasn't supposed to be the one who people admired. There was something that he could use.

He smirked. "Did you ever think that maybe they took you into Psy Ops because you deserved it? I mean, according to form, you were in more than once. That wasn't my fault. Something about a girl?"

_Rachel_. Alec stiffened. The only way that Ben could have known about that was someone from Special Ops. That meant Zan.

His temper flared and ignited into a white-hot flame. "That wasn't smart."

Ben stepped back and brought his hands up in a classic fight status and Alec just shook his head. "Ten years on the outside and all you can do is—" he cut off his own words to sweep a leg around, catching Ben in the back of the knee and making him buckle, "—fall for that, dumb ass."

As Ben lurched forwards he grabbed the neck of Alec's t-shirt and pulled, tearing the material even as he swung Alec around and kneed him in the stomach.

Ben growled. "You're the dumb ass if you think I'm standing for your crap, after everything I've been through."

A whoosh of breath left Alec and he raised his arm, catching Ben in the chin with a sharp elbow.

"Everything _you've_ been through?"

Ben's head snapped back and he dropped Alec, stumbling several paces.

"Uh, I really think we should do something," Aiden said as he watched them both.

"Popcorn?" suggested Zan.

"Max?" Aiden retaliated.

Zan waved the idea. "They need to work out their issues."

Aiden regarded him dubiously. "You just want to see Alec get his ass kicked."

Zan grinned. "That too."

"You do realise you'll be next?" Aiden offered and Zan's face dropped.

"Probably," he shrugged.

"Poor misguided psychopath," Alec was saying. "Life is hard."

"It's even harder if you're stupid," Ben shot back and launched a fist at Alec. The punch connected and Alec staggered back from the impact, dodging the next swing by the skin of his teeth.

"No, Ben, stupid is the one attacking the 2IC and the CO's mate. That's not just dumb but suicidal!" Alec said as he kicked Ben in the stomach.

Ben buckled as the heel of Alec's boot caught his ribs, he grabbed Alec's ankle in mid-swing and twisted listening out for the crack that would signify a broken ankle. It didn't come as Alec flipped over even as Ben turned his ankle and lashed out with a boot to Ben's face.

Ben dropped, landing against one of the consoles.

"Hey!" Dix yelled. "Equipment is expensive. Kill each other but stay off the electronics."

Alec was aware of the rest of the transgenics watching him for the first time. He realised that they wouldn't stand in to help or even stop the fight since he was the CO and he was the one who was supposed to stop it. But he was in too deep now and more than ready to put an end to Ben once and for all.

Ben had ricocheted off the console and lay on his back on the floor with a grunt.

He scissored his legs, catching Alec and swiping him off his feet sending another cloud of dust and dirt to swirl in the air, almost masking his movements as he leaped to his feet, turning to kick Alec in the ribs.

"You really think you garner that much respect, huh?" Ben taunted. "I mean it was easy enough to find people who didn't like you. Maybe it's you who needs to re-evaluate your place here, pal, and as for Max… I'm sure things were just fine once you made her leave me. At least you had your friends." Ben smirked remembering watching Alec and Max fighting in the courtyards of Manticore.

Alec curled away from Ben's foot, protecting himself before grabbing Ben's ankle and twisting.

This time there was a crack and Ben swore as he stumbled.

This gave Alec time to get to his feet and he rubbed his chest as he stood to face his target. "Arrogant son of a bitch!" he exploded, his temper well and truly gone. Ben's barbs had hit harder than his feet and Alec reeled inwardly at the pain inflicted. Max had gone mad at him for making her abandon her brother and it had been easy for Ben to turn others against him.

Alec had thought that he had a pretty good repartee with the other guys and it grated that Zan would ally himself with Ben and that Dek would entertain the thought of it, even if didn't follow through. No matter what history the men had had together he, at least, thought he could trust them to keep something like Rachel a secret.

They didn't know all the details and the thought that Zan had taken even what scant knowledge that he had and told Ben.

Ben- of all people.

His eyes flashed and he turned his head for a moment, pinning a watching Zan with a hateful glare.

"I guess some people aren't worth calling friends."

"Uh oh," Aiden cursed under his breath as Zan's eyes narrowed.

He grabbed hold of Zan's elbow even as he started forward to address the slur that Alec threw at him.

"Guys!"

"Leave it," Ben asked as he clambered to his feet. "Apparently Alec here has some issues he wants to address."

"My issues are with you assholes thinking that you have a right to my mate. Is that your problem?" Alec snarled at both Ben and Zan. "Max turned you both down so you band together to be pains in my ass?"

Zan shook Aiden off and folded his arms over his chest. "Say what you really feel, Alec."

"Why the hell were you listening to this Manticore reject?" Alec demanded pointing at Ben. "So we've not seen eye to eye but, shit, Zan, I thought we were actually friends!"

Zan's face wouldn't have seemed to change to anyone that didn't know him; to those who did there was a flinch in his expression that made Alec feel slightly better.

"You once yelled at my entire unit for changing loyalties," Alec reminded him of when unit 8 had issues with Max. "Why is that different for you? Betray confidences, Zan? _He_ is not our unit. He's an outsider."

"I am not an outsider!" Ben growled. "I have just as much right to be here as you and more, hell, I knew Maxie way before she even knew you existed."

Alec snarled as his fist met with Ben's cheek, spilling blood from a split lip. Ben shook his head and responded with a fast blow to Alec's stomach, grinning evilly at the sound of a crack within his chest.

"Son of a bitch!" Alec spat as he touched the rib that had just healed from the bruising Dek had given it not too long ago. "You and Dek have the same aim."

"Let's see if we can't mess up those pretty boy looks," Ben offered and brought his left fist across towards Alec's chin.

There was a sound of flesh on flesh—but it wasn't the punch that they expected and Ben looked at the tight fist that held his hand, up the arm and into eyes swimming with fury.

"Just what the hell," Max demanded, "is going on here?"

Alec and Ben both stared at Max, unable to believe that they had been so intent on beating each other to death that they hadn't even heard her approach.

Max released Ben's fist and stepped back, unmitigated rage in her expression as she glanced from Ben to Alec and back again.

For the first time Alec looked around the command centre to see every pair of eyes on them and he felt a vague disquiet at the attention.

He cursed himself for allowing Ben to rile him to such a point that he forgot that these people should respect him.

Max waited for them to speak but both men studiously avoided her irate expression.

"Ben, Alec, Zan, Aiden," she chose the two nearest spectators and spoke quietly. "I think we need to go upstairs."

For the first time Alec noticed Bill standing someway behind her with an amused look on his face. He nodded a greeting at Alec and wandered over to where Sunny was stood waiting.

Max spun on her heel and marched up the stairs to her office and motioned for them to follow her inside.

Once the door was shut Max walked over to the desk on the far side of the room and leaned her hip against it, arms folded as she stared at them all. "Okay, who wants to tell me what the hell that was all about?"

Silence.

"I mean here we are, on the brink of an all out war between ordinaries and transgenics where, it's possible, that we will be killed. Do you think the ordinaries need help with that?" Max frowned. "Are you trying to even the playing field or what?"

"It was a simple misunderstanding," offered Zan but was struck by the withering look Max sent him.

"Don't insult my intelligence, Zan." She turned to Alec. "Alec?"

Alec gave a sideways look to Ben. "It was a disagreement that got out of hand."

"A guy thing," Ben said with a grin. "Are you our mother now, Maxie?"

Max was not amused. "No, Ben. What I am is leader of Terminal City. Part of being a leader means ensuring that anything that threatens the peace—like you dumb asses— is dealt with. Now I don't know what issues you guys have with each other—" she held up her hand as both Ben and Alec started to interrupt "—and I don't much care. I need everyone's support here. So deal with whatever it is that's bothering you _without_ causing chaos. Do I make myself clear?" she looked at them both and Alec's unflagging temper simmered.

"You're my CO, Max, not my mother," he snapped.

"Then it's an order," she replied coolly.

Ben's eyes narrowed. "Taking lessons from Zack?"

Max swung around to face him. "I know you don't like authority, Ben. But here's where I don't give a shit. If people aren't willing to take direction—then they make their own direction—elsewhere."

Ben froze and then everyone in the room heard his vulnerability in his voice. "Are you kicking me out of Terminal city?"

Max grabbed his hands. "No. Ben, you are my brother and I love you—" Alec stiffened, "—but I need you on board and ready and willing to follow me. If you can't or won't accept my lead, then you are endangering everyone. I can't have that on my conscience."

He looked down at her and then shuffled his feet, giving Zan and Aiden a sideways look.

Max understood. "Zan, Aiden, can you guys wait outside?"

Once they closed the door behind them Ben spoke.

"He made you leave me, Max. I know that you wanted to come with me and he made you go. I lost you and I almost lost me. I can't take orders from him."

Alec stared, incredulous. "You lost her? Max didn't speak to me for months after that little stunt. I had to watch her go on missions and know that if she died, she died hating me. If Max had gone with you then Manticore would have hunted her down. I was looking out for her and not being selfish."

Ben turned on him, wincing as his ankle throbbed. "Oh, and having her back in Manticore wasn't selfish? Huh? Like you didn't get some almighty kick out of having her there?"

Remembering the almighty kick that Max had delivered to his person, Alec winced.

Max's lips twitched at that and she had to look away.

"Did either of you ever stop to think that I did have a choice? Yeah, I chose to go back with Alec, because I didn't want them to find you, Ben." Max sighed. "I will not choose between the two of you. I want you both in my life, but not at each others throat. Can you at least try to get along? For me?"

"I'm willing to call a truce if Ben quits his campaign of Alec- bashing."

"What?" Max frowned. "This again?"

"Ask him," Alec offered, swiping at the lip still gushing blood.

Max gave Ben a questioning look. "Any idea what he's talking about?"

"He said I don't belong here," Ben blurted.

"And you said no one likes me." Alec shot back.

"Oh, God," Max shook her head and slumped to the desk. "I feel like I'm stuck in kindergarten." She looked between the two of them. "Or a bad Freudian dream."

"So this is what its like to argue with yourself," Alec said, suddenly seeing the humour in the situation.

Ben smirked. "Split personality- fun for all the family."

"Twice."

The two men chuckled and then fell silent, staring uneasily at each other.

Alec stood. "I don't like you because I went through hell when you ran away and again when you came back into Max's life. But for Max I'll put up with you. For Max, I call truce. Even if she is a pain in the ass at times."

Ben glanced at Max who was pretending not to have heard that last comment and then down at Alec's hand, extended. "I hate you for having her and not appreciating what you have. But for her, truce."

He grabbed Alec hand and tried to squeeze it to pieces.

"Great!" Max said as both men winced, their bravado reminding them of what injuries they had inflicted on each other. "Now can we get through the next ten minutes without a crisis?"

Even as the words spilled from her mouth, the door slammed open and Dek blurred into the room.

"I'm guessing not," Alec joked even as his stomach lurched.

Dek ignored him, his eyes intent on Max. "Max, its Pix."

Max's nails gouged into the table. She was scared that if she spoke she'd throw up and so the one word came out stark and clipped. "Yeah?"

"He's awake."

* * *

Muchas Gracias to

Caboodle

SakuraAkira365

KiaraKlay

Timetowaste247

Black Rose9

Geminagle

BlueJean452

Spuffyshipper

WerrieAnna

Toniboo

Peatrie- See Alec is less wimpy and you'll LOVE the next chapter. Alec in all his glory! Mwah!

Moonlite Star

SpiritKez

Angel Of Darkness231

Mely's the Name- Nakedness! Oh yay!

Anon- Yeah ahem he's not dead.

Ganko

Feenian

Chaosti

Kim

Mystic Fayth

Albaholly

BlueAngel137

Pinkflipflop3

Sigma1


	24. 20a Too early for killing princes

Hi, to all who have been waiting patiently for this for months. As you may have heard my computer exploded on me at the end of June and it took me about a month and a half to catch up with what had been lost. I have been working hard to get back what I remembered typing. But that does mena that i havent answered the reviews.

But i would like to say a huge THANKYOU to everyone who has _ever_ reviewed asit was those who kept me from giving up when it seemed like i'd never finish or recall what I did. It has all been appreciated.

So thanks.

* * *

**Chapter 20- Too Early in the day for killing Princes**

When Max and Alec raced into the hospital bay with Dek eagerly on their heels, they had no idea what to expect; Dek had run to them the instant Pix opened his eyes.

Pix lay pale and twitchy against the white pillows. his face covered with cuts and bruises, their deep purple hue only emphasizing the stark whiteness of the crisp hospital linen.

Chance sat at his side, her hand grasping the bed sheets like they were a life line. She looked up when they burst into the room and Max wasn't entirely surprised to see tears in Chance's eyes.

Her gaze flew past the weepy brunette to Pix's open brown eyes and she smiled at him, her pulse pounding more with nerves than the speed with which she had raced there.

He wasn't dead. Whatever else happened, they could cope with providing he wasn't dead.

"Hey, guys," Max said as she calmed herself down, her fingers flexing as she wondered what to do with her hands. "Everything okay?"

"Max," Tara greeted, her voice somewhat strange.

"Pix?" Alec called as he came closer to the bed. "How are ya doing, buddy?"

Pix said nothing and just blinked. An icy hand gripped Max's heart.

"Pix?"

"He hasn't said anything," Chance burst out, as if keeping the words in hurt her. She'd tried to be strong. Manticore knows she'd tried, for her own sake if not Pix's but for him to sit there, staring into thin air and just blinking, it was more than she could deal with, having been on tenterhooks for his awakening. Tara still wasn't sure what had made him open his eyes and Chance was wondering if that was all that he'd ever be able to do.

Tara nodded, laying a hand on Chance's shoulder in understanding. She may have been a bitch to the young girl before, but even she could understand the real fear that her mate might be a vegetable. "He'd been awake for about ten minutes before any of us noticed he'd opened his eyes. But he hasn't said a word."

Max sat on the edge of the bed and moved her face into Pix's line of vision. "Pix? It's Max. How do you feel?"

He blinked again.

Max held up her hand and moved one finger to the left and right of his vision. His eyes slowly followed the finger. She moved the finger left and right and then brought it to her nose.

Pix's eyes followed it until he was looking directly at her, his vision focused.

Max smiled gently at him. "Hey. Do you know where you are?"

He nodded slightly, wincing when the movement caused him pain.

"Don't move your head too much," Tara ordered. "I'll try to find some Tryptophan for any head pain."

Max shifted to look over her shoulder. "There's a guy in central command with Sunny. His name is Bill— he should be able to get his hands on some more if we need it."

Tara nodded and started to move but halted at the door. "As Pix's doctor I should tell you that you are not to overexcite him and there should be no more than three visitors at any time."

"Duly noted," Alec said with an irreverent air and Tara knew that her orders would be disregarded.

Max ignored them, intent as she was in looking at Pix. "Are you in pain?"

There was a slight head nod again and Max bit her lip. "We're going to fix you up. But we need to know exactly what's wrong. Can you talk?"

There was an odd rumbling from his throat and a pained expression crossed his face.

"Shh, it's okay," Chance soothed and touched his hand. "If it hurts too much then don't try to talk."

"C-c-a-an," came a ravaged whisper from his throat.

"Can you tell me where it hurts?"

"W-w—" Pix cleared his throat. "—w-ater?"

"Of course!" Chance leaped up but Dek was faster, his hands grabbing a glass of water and bringing it to Pix's bedside.

"Here, pal."

Pix sipped at the cup that Dek held to his lips, spilling a little down his chin.

Chance had to turn her eyes away from the image of her mate unable to hold his own glass. Pix had always been able to more than hold his own and to see him reduced to this state was more than painful. She suddenly recalled Tara's words and turned back, her spine straight. She would do this for Pix.

"W-what h-happened?" Pix stammered, his throat obviously hurting.

Max and Alec glanced at each other wondering if it was best to tell him or to let him remember in his own time.

Max reached over and smoothed a lock of hair away from Pix's eyes, feeling relief that she could touch him and that he was alive to feel it. All at once calm swamped her and she released a breath that she hadn't realised she'd been holding; holding since she'd first seen his face on that screen.

Pix had been her unofficial brother since that moment she'd turned to him in the cramped truck she'd left Wyoming in and the thought of losing him, like she'd lost Zack and Ben and the rest, sat in her stomach and heart like a lead balloon. She'd felt on edge since he had been injured, yelling at everyone and disregarding Alec, hoping to hell that she wasn't about to lose someone else that she loved. She didn't think she'd be able to take it if Pix died. She couldn't…didn't want to be leader if he wasn't there to lighten the load. Now that he was awake, she was going to do all that she could to ensure that he would get well again.

"We'll discuss that when your better. For now, it was an accident."

He looked at her like he didn't believe her but didn't say anything as she stroked his face with a sad smile.

"Okay, Pix. Can you tell me where it hurts?"

Pix swallowed. "E-everywh-ere ex-cept…I c-can't f-f-feel my legs," he struggled to say, his eyes widening in panic. "Legs."

"There was some spinal damage from the…accident," Max filled in. "It's probably temporary. We are gonna take good care of you, Pix."

"Promise," Chance offered with a smile dredged from the deepest recesses of her strength. Paralysed?

Moments ago all she'd wanted was for him to be awake and alive and now. Now? Could she deal with having a mate who could never move below the waist? Could she deal with never going for walks with Pix again, or chasing him after some dumb prank? Could she deal with this Pix who suddenly seemed far too sedate and sweet? Ropes knotted in her stomach as she watched him.

Pix leaned back with his head against the pillow and closed his eyes.

"Pix, buddy, is there anything you need?" Dek asked quietly, not wanting to crowd his friend.

"Yes," Pix sniffed and opened his eyes. "I ne-ed to know," he said, his voice still ragged from the abuse he had gone through.

"What?" Alec frowned.

Pix looked at each of them in turn. "Wh-o are you and why do you call me Pix?"

>>>

Sunny sat in central command with Max's ordinary friend, Bill, and watched as he tapped away at his computer.

"I think I remember you," she blurted out and he halted in his typing to look at her.

"Really?"

Sunny brushed her hair over one shoulder and nodded. "I was stationed at Wyoming and spent a lot of time in the DNA base. I was good at molecular biology."

Bill gave her a rueful smile. "Sorry, I don't remember you. There were a lot of you and I wasn't really supposed to be in contact with any of you."

"You made an exception in Max's case." It wasn't a question. Sunny knew that he must be someone special for Max to have reacted to him the way she did. Max's eyes didn't light up that way for just anyone and, lately, she'd smiled like that for almost no one. She seemed to be so busy trying to run things that she'd made herself forget that she was still a person.

Sunny wanted to remind her, but there was so much to do, and she hadn't had the time yet. She only hoped that Alec would be able to do something before it was too late.

"Max is always an exception," he replied and swiped at his forehead.

"So what are you doing here?" Biggs asked not unkindly from his position behind them.

Bill sighed. "Lydecker sent me."

Sunny and Biggs stiffened straight away.

"What?" she spat. "Does Max know?"

He rolled his eyes. "Of course. I told her the second I walked in. Lydecker wants to do a deal."

"No dice," Sunny decided and folded her arms defensively against her chest. "Nobody wants to make a deal with the devil."

"Not even to fight a common enemy?" he raised an eyebrow that silenced the blonde.

She was silent for a long moment before spitting out tersely, "Who?"

"White." Bill nodded at her look of surprise. "His agenda is much less friendly than Lydecker's."

Sunny shivered, and rubbed at her bare forearms, feeling chilly all of a sudden. "What do they want?"

"Annihilation and cooperation," he smirked. "In either order."

"Elaborate," Biggs suggested and Bill rubbed his forehead.

"The plain truth of it all is that I am not 100 sure what Deck's motivation is. White wants you all dead and he's not bothered about who gets caught in the crossfire. He sees you as a threat and I don't know why."

Sunny and Biggs, who were party to Pix and Max's information of White's cult leanings, knew why he wanted them erased off the face of the planet, but chose not to elaborate. They didn't have Max's faith in this ordinary…or ordinaries in general and they may have to work with this guy, it didn't mean that they had to like it.

"So what does _he_ want?" Sunny asked meaning Lydecker.

"Deck?" Bill bit his lip, not sure if he should tell her what the military man had actually asked him to bargain for. If everyone knew what was on the man's mind there would be anarchy. "He wants…something that only Max can give," he decided upon.

"And that would be?"

"Between those two." He refused to say anything else. "The point here is that Deck trusts White as far as he can throw him—even before the hearing disaster."

"The enemy of my enemy is my friend?" Sunny offered sceptically.

"War makes for strange bed folk," Biggs shook his head and they lapsed into silence, waiting for Max.

>>>

Max edged back from the bed. "Pix?"

"My designation is 418, stationed at Wyoming facility. Project classification level R-red," Pix said, his voice in an odd monotone but getting stronger with every word. "I am authorised to give you nothing else until appropriate clearing is offered."

The group around the bed cast horrified looks at each other. There was no way that this could be true.

Pix had regressed right back to Wyoming? Chance gripped the bed in horror. She knew that Tara had stated this as a possibility, but she had thought it was only an outside chance. The very idea that he didn't know who she was, didn't love her—it hurt.

"Pix." Dek breathed, deciding to address that first. "Your name is Pix."

"My designation is X5-418."

"I'm gonna throw up," Chance said, her face a mask of revulsion.

"I'm X5-452," Max said stalwartly. "I have top level security clearance on Red level two. Commanding Officer. What do you recall, soldier?"

Alec reached forward to touch Max's arm, wondering if playing along would do Pix any good. Shouldn't they tell him that Manticore had been destroyed? Max may be the de facto leader of Terminal City and the transgenics but Pix was part of the figurehead and people needed to see him so as not to lose heart.

He needed to at least play the part, to stop the city from succumbing to hysteria; after all, if White could do this to their leader, what chance did the others have?

"Lights, ma'am," Pix said immediately. "I remember lights and people. I think I was under attack. The last thing I remember was some sort of haze."

"Haze?" Max frowned.

"Like a dream," he continued, swallowing hard. "And you were there, and you were there and you—"

As Chance gaped, Dek caught the mischievous glint in Pix's eye and laughed out loud.

"You evil son of a bitch!"

Pix could no longer keep a straight face and burst out laughing at the same time as Max.

"Asshole!" she remonstrated. "You had us all going there."

"That was mean!" Chance said and reached for some place to slap him that wasn't covered in bruises and bandages. But the relief was evident and the sudden sheen of merriment in his eyes was all the push she needed to decided. Her future was with him. For better or worse.

"Couldn't r-resist," Pix admitted gasping for breath. "How often do I get a c-chance like that? You should have seen your f-faces."

"You wait," Alec vowed retribution but neither he nor the others could wipe the grins of their faces.

Tara walked back into the room to see the sea of happy smiles and realized that Pix was out of danger.

"Ok," she said stridently. "Everyone who isn't medical personnel clear out."

Alec grabbed Chance's hand, ushering her out to tell the others that Pix was fine, Max started to follow them when Pix caught her hand.

"Wait," he asked, his voice low. He cast a look towards the others as they filed out, shooting a reassuring smile at Chance.

Max frowned but allowed the others to leave her alone with him and Tara. There was concern in her voice when she spoke next. "What is it?"

He bit his lip. "I remember everything, even though some of it, I wish I didn't. But I do remember seeing you; I remember you coming to my rescue, and I want to say thanks."

"Alec was there too," she tried to shrug off the praise.

Pix nodded slowly and took a deep breath. "But you and me have a history and I wanted to tell you…" he paused.

"What?" she prompted.

He looked up, the light gone from his eyes and to Max's horror she was confronted by, not the carefree solider he had become, but the scared little boy who had been thrown into the lake back at Wyoming and left to die.

"Pix?" she urged.

"I _really_ can't feel my legs, Max." His voice shook. "I'm dead from the hips down."

He bit his lip and his hand wavered uselessly in the air as he stared down at the offending limbs. "Nothing."

Max's eyes met Tara's in terrified revelation before she reached forward to envelope Pix in a hug, not sure what to say to make this any less devastating.

"A soldier without his legs is a liability, Max!" he said, his voice hoarse.

"Fuck that," she said, dragging her hand through his hair. "You will never be a liability, Pix."

"I step down from command, effectively immediately."

Max's eyes glistened. "I won't let you, asshole."

Pix gaped at her. "You've always been more of a leader than me, Max. You know I never resented you taking charge. Hell, I never wanted the position in the first place."

"I was CO, Pix, but that doesn't make me a leader. My troops follow and that makes me leader. Without them, I'm just a bossy bitch."

"Amen," Tara muttered under her breath and Pix choked on a laugh.

"This," Max gestured to his legs, "is just temporary. You're no less of a person, no less of a soldier, and no less of a friend for it. I refuse to allow you to wallow in self-pity."

"I can't do anything." He growled, allowing his temper to come out.

Max dug into her pocket and pulled out a battered and burnt black book. "The guy who wrote this, the guy who did these things didn't think he couldn't do anything. I bet he wrote them sitting down."

Pix stared at the black book. "Where did you find that?"

Max swallowed. "In your office, buried underneath paperwork." What she didn't tell him was that when she had seen it, something had burst inside her and she'd sat down and bawled for half an hour straight. "You still are someone, Pix. We need you."

"I won't command," he declared not wanting anyone to see him and pity him in this position.

"Then be there for me," Max tossed the book at him. "I need you there to be my support and my backup. If you can't do it for yourself, then do it for me."

She placed one last kiss on his forehead and got up to leave.

"Max!" he called and she half-turned, cocking a brow at him.

"For you?" He shrugged. "I can try."

"You'll do better than try." Max knew and walked away, leaving him to think.

>>>

One of Alec's main duties as Max's 2IC was to help her with the final part of her plan to aid the transgenics, so while she was catching up with Pix and probably gaining a status report, Alec was sitting in his office with his cell phone glued to his ear.

He was well aware that White and his men would be monitoring the airwaves but this was something he needed to do.

The phone rang once, twice, and a third time before someone picked it up.

"Hey, Sketchy here."

"Liked your TV debut, Sketch," Alec grinned and almost laughed as he heard Sketchy fumble the phone on the other end.

"Alec?"

"Yeah. How's it hanging, dude?"

"Oh, man!"

Alec could almost hear Sketchy roll his eyes on the other end of the phone and rake his hands through his hair. It was nice to have some semblance of normality when everything around you was going to hell in a hand basket.

"Dude, you were on TV."

Alec felt a mild interest. "Which channel?"

"Uh, all of'em, I think. Hey, did you know Max was a transgenic?"

He fought the urge to laugh. "Yeah, I kinda had a clue when we escaped together."

"Oh, yeah," Sketchy sounded sheepish. "It's just, Max, ya know?"

"She does have a tendency to get under your skin. Anyway, I saw you, too, Sketch. What you said was great. We loved that you'd stick by us."

"You know Normal freaked out when he found out you were transgenics," Sketchy added. "His golden boy. I think he was crushed, until O.C. threatened to put the smack down on his ass for being a…Hey O.C.?" Alec heard him call the diva to the phone. "What did you call Normal?"

"A double-dealing, back-slamming, slum shyster baby dissing on his fave boy and superior sister cuz they weren't straight up birthed babes. Ass. Who you talking to?"

"Alec."

"Lemme talk to him!"

There was a mini wrestling over the phone and O.C. gained control. "Hey, baby boo. How's my girl and what the hell have you been dragging her into now?"

"Max's fine," Alec allowed and then took a deep breath. "We're both fine. A little shaken from what happened out there."

"Straight up," she shuddered. "It scared Original to the core. Peoples is plain nasty and things are getting hotter to handle. What can we do?"

"Put Sketchy back on."

"Fool?"

"Hey Alec, she's got a mean grip."

"Listen," Alec sat up, all traces of humour gone. "You know how you were going for that job as _New World Weekly_ journalist? Did you get it?"

"Yup, freelance. Why?"

"Sketchy, with all this bad press transgenics are getting, what we really need is some pro-press. How would your editor feel about a one on one interview with a transgenic?"

"He'd piss himself."

"We are willing to allow _New World Weekly_ exclusive interviews and our side of the story, complete with names, dates, and all the pictures your little journalistic self can handle. Want it?"

"I'd give a testicle for it."

"Unnecessary," Alec grinned and looked down at his watch. It had been a hell of a night and it wasn't over yet. Pix had only been hurt last night; why did it feel so long ago? "I can find you our least human looking transgenic to interview if you can make it to the gates by six am."

"I'll go talk to Bob now, get him to hold the front page. If we wrap by nine, I can get you on the morning edition" Sketchy said. "Insider scoop!"

"Thanks pal," Alec said. "We need this."

"I won't let you down," Sketchy vowed and rung off.

Alec leaned over on his knees and clasped his hands, as if in prayer. He wasn't worried about Sketchy letting them down.

He was worried about staying alive and keeping everyone else the same way. He sighed deeply and was about to close his eyes when the door opened silently. He knew without looking that it was Max.

"Hey, babe," he said rubbing his head. "Did you know that a few more of the '09ers have arrived? Zane, Ash and some woman with a kid called Tinga…the woman's called Tinga; I think the kid is Chase—or Run, maybe it was Hunt. Something symbolic. I've settled them in East block and they want to talk to you or whoever's in charge, which, I guess, would be you, too."

"Alec?"

"Yeah?" Alec stretched and he looked up into Max's worried eyes, "What's wrong…now?"

She bit her lip. "I need to tell you about Pix."

>>>

Lydecker was not happy.

Scratch that.

He hadn't been happy when he had been assigned to Ames 'so-incredibly-dead' White. He had been less than pleased when he found out that White had been killing his kids. He had been rather pissed when he discovered that Ames White had a hidden agenda that wasn't in favour of either his kids or his race. He was angry when White had cornered Max and let her go, and he had been downright furious when White set the nation on his kids.

Now he was past furious and into homicidally murderous and when he got his hands on the agent, he would kill him.

Plain and simple.

Or slowly and painfully, which ever worked best.

He clenched and unclenched his fists, wishing that they were wrapped tightly around someone's throat. At this point he wouldn't care whose.

His eyes flickered to the television that played White's "revelation" in a never ending loop on every single channel.

And when the stations weren't playing that, they were awash with the hover drone footage of transgenics in a bloodbath.

It hadn't taken him long to identify Max. The others he was only aware of marginally, but the way that 452 had handled herself was nothing short of majestic. The fact that it catapulted her to the spotlight was irrelevant.

He wanted her.

Not in the way that most men would want her, but the way that a good captain would want a top soldier; the way a manager would sell his soul for that quarterback; the way a woman wanted those shoes.

Max had grown up into the epitome of all he was trying to create. She was the pinnacle of perfection and she could be his; if he played his cards right.

That was why he had sent Bill to the camp as a peace offering. He knew that she would come willingly if she thought that there was a possibility that she could help. Loyalty was her main weakness as well as her most valuable asset.

And she would come…if White hadn't scared her away.

"Sir!" Someone disturbed his musings and he turned to see Otto looking intently at him.

"What is it, Mendez?"

"You have to see this, sir. Quickly."

Lydecker frowned and followed him into the other room where anther television set was playing.

"I have been following the news, Mendez."

"Yes, sir, but this came over the set not ten minutes ago. We were monitoring the transgenics and almost missed it."

Lydecker folded his arms and waited with forced patience as the man switched on the set.

When the twin bands of red and blue swirled across the set, he was caught.

_This is an Eyes Only broadcast, direct from among you. People, we have been duped. We think that the main threat to our lives is transgenics? We are wrong—I was wrong. I have conclusive proof that there is an even deeper agenda; a reason why these transgenics were made. They were made to protect us from an even greater threat._

_They call themselves The Cult, and are a breeding program dating back further than even Christ. They want to create a master race, a race of super humans to replace us all. For centuries they have been waiting in positions of power, ready to take over and wipe us out. That time was near at hand when one of their own turned against them. He wanted to give us a fighting chance, and so the transgenics were created to defend us against them. Eyes Only has proof that they exist, have existed for centuries, and want us all dead and gone. Their agenda is to first take out our last line of defence—the transgenics— then to kill us all._

_It was they who let loose the bio-toxin that killed hundreds and left Terminal City a waste land; it was they who loosed the pulse, rebelling against a technologically advanced human race. They are among us, and they will not stop until we are cattle._

_Eyes Only has a list of names of members, some of the highest members of our society, waiting to lead us to the slaughter. Here is a list of those names._

_If we rid the world of transgenics, we are making ourselves slaves._

_Fight against the cult._

_Peace out._

There was a flash of green and a list of names began to make its way down the screen.

_Senator James McKinley_

_The Right Honourable Judge Allen_

_Bishop Greg Greenwall_

_Dr. Aku Neko_

_Colonel T. Marthinussen_

_Lady Charlotte Vincent_

_Special Agent Ames White_

"Holy crap," Otto breathed. "Is this true, sir? Sir?"

Lydecker was so intent on staring at the names that filtered down the screen that he hardly heard the man asking for verification.

"Sir?"

Lydecker started. "What?"

"Is it true, sir?" Otto frowned. "It seems somewhat farfetched."

"Oh, it's true," Lydecker reiterated. "In fact, Mendez, I think that we should make sure no slip of this reaches the mainstream media. There is a man I know who works for Channel 52; his number is on my desk. I think you should call him anonymously and let him know that this is all…conjecture and in no way endorsed by Manticore—not that we exist."

Mendez blinked. "In no way endorsed by the secret project that shouldn't exist, sir?"

"How can our organization be real when the man who revealed its existence is part of an organization that doesn't exist and hasn't for centuries?"

The delicious irony tasted good to Lydecker and he ran his tongue over his teeth as the connotations of this echoed in his head.

"Do you understand, Otto?"

Mendez looked at him and decided on honesty. "I have a headache."

Lydecker sighed. "Our denial will be taken as proof, not only that the Cult exists, but also that Manticore exists. It will also highlight that those who denied our existence have something to hide. The media attention will shift to the Cult and not on us and we will be free to bring the kids home."

"Oh," Mendez frowned. Really, there was something off with Lydecker's reasoning.

"Maybe Bill has something for us," Lydecker mused and walked away, leaving Mendez shaking his head in bewilderment.

>>>

The pretty brunette sat up straighter in her chair and stared at the camera.

"Good evening I'm Zsuzanna Day, and here is the news from Channel 52. Seattle and, indeed, the whole nation, was rocked today by an international broadcast from cyber journalist 'Eyes Only'. In this revelatory news bulletin, he told the world of a secret cult, hidden for centuries within our own culture, as the members seek global domination. He pointed the finger at many well known authority figures. Our news correspondent Nevanroy Ishtari has the details." She swung in her chair to face a large screen behind her and touched her earpiece. "Nev—what can you tell us?"

The man on the screen nodded to an off-screen direction and faced the camera.

"Well, Zsu, I'm here outside the gates of Terminal City, the fortress behind which holds some of the most powerful super humans on the planet. Or are they? Only hours ago the Eyes Only broadcast was transmitted to mixed reactions: scepticism, healthy cynicism, and not just a little fear."

"Can you tell us something about the broadcast?"

"Eyes Only, a staunch supporter of the transgenics, has compiled a list of people he says he can prove are part of a centuries-old cult with a single agenda: to be number one on our fair planet. In his broadcast he transmitted data–analysed by top experts—which shows that this cult has been working to breed the perfect human. Top athletes, scientists, and models have been named as products of this bastardisation of genetics, and scientists are calling it "playing god"; a sentence that they were attributing to the transgenics only days ago."

"How conclusive is this proof?"

"As of yet Eyes Only is only releasing parts of the information, but we have had corroboration from a source within the supposedly mythical Manticore project, that it_ is_ all true and the transgenics were actually designed to protect us."

"How have these cult members been achieving their aims?"

"This is the truly shocking part, Zsuzanna. They've done it by systematically raping women for centuries in order to birth babies of superior genes. We have a statement from a victim of this enforced gestation who is willing to go public: a woman who was rescued from a facility by a transgenic."

"What is the general feeling down there at the moment, Nev?"

"Nervousness, anticipation, and something of a turning of the tide, Zsu. There is a feeling that anything could happen."

"Thank you, Nev. Keep us posted." She turned back to the studio camera. "In what is one of the most shocking moves, Eyes Only named not only Senator McKinley but also Special Agent Ames White, who was instrumental in releasing details of the fabled Project Manticore. Neither men were available for comment, and one has to wonder whether there is, indeed, truth in this outrageous claim. Someone who not only believes but has seen the proof for himself is here with us in the studio. May I introduce _New World Weekly_ journalist Calvin Simon Theodore."

"Call me Sketchy," said the tousled-haired blond.

The woman blinked, then smiled. "Mr. Sketchy, only this morning you released an interview from inside Terminal City. Tell me, how are you on such easy terms with transgenics?"

"I worked with one, well, two for ages." Sketchy tugged on his tie. "Max Guevara and Alec McDowell were two of my best friends when I worked at Jam Pony—a bike messenger service right here in Seattle. It wasn't until I saw them on the news that I realised what they were."

"Were you horrified?"

"No," he scoffed. "Max stuck her neck out for me again and again and I knew that there was nothing that she wouldn't do to keep me safe. She's a kick-ass chick and a straight-up friend. It's all good."

"You trust her?"

"With my life and my country," Sketchy said, sounding natural and somewhat patriotic. "When I realised how my friends were being stiffed by the press, I asked _New World Weekly _to give them the benefit of the doubt and was allowed to take an interview with one of the transgenics: an anomaly called Dix."

"We have a photograph of this transgenic," Zsuzanna said and the photo still popped up of the monocled anomaly. "Is he dangerous?"

"That's an unfair question," Sketchy said. "The wrong driver behind the wheel of a car is dangerous. A kid with a gun is dangerous. Transgenics are as different from each other as you are from me. This dude…uh, guy is actually really cool. He dug trenches in the Mohave during the eco-wars of the post-pulse era and he is killer with electronics. He fixed me up a walkman in thirty minutes."

"So they are not all monsters."

"No way," Sketchy shook his head. "They have kids in there. Some kids who were locked in basements by the military because they didn't look like us. It sucks to be them, man. I mean they have tails and shit—uh, stuff." He grimaced. "The point is that I think they just want to be left alone, like any of us. But this cult won't let them."

"Ah yes, the story of the hour." Zsuzanna looked down at her notes. "Do you believe in this cult? I mean, it sounds pretty far-fetched."

"Any more than human/animal DNA meshing? Any more than being able to talk to someone on another continent in less than twenty seconds? Far fetched is only because the shi—uh, stuff hasn't happened yet. I believe that this cult is real and a real threat. If transgenics were designed to keep our sorry asses safe then we need to let them do their job. The Cult started the pulse to hold us back; they unleashed a virus to destroy our guardians which went screwy, causing a whole city to be, like, wiped out, dude. If this cult wants us stomped out like bugs then I say we need to pick a side. I know who has my loyalty."

"Thank you, Mr. Sketchy. Well, there you have it. The Cult verses the human race with the transgenics as our protectors; what do you think? Call us on 555-5494 to comment."

>

Alec turned to Max with a raised eyebrow and she smiled.

"I think he did well."

Alec shook his head, bemusedly. "I guess."

"Be more optimistic, Alec," Max laughed. "It's not the end of the world."

"Yet." Alec inclined his head. "Although he did look kinda weird in that suit."

Max punched his arm and turned back to the command central crew. "Hey guys, how's it going?"

"Good." Techie looked up and gave her two thumbs up. "We finished the siren alarm and it's rigged to ring pretty much anywhere in Terminal City."

"Because with transgenics hearing, we need one in every courtyard," Isacar said dryly.

"Better safe than massacred," Ben replied from his perch on the desk.

"Do we need to do a drill?" Flex wondered out loud. Off Max's look, he elaborated. "See, we've got a list and we've contacted everyone who can't or won't fight. As soon as the siren wails they'll congregate to an elected point where we can get them out. I was just wondering if we need a drill to practice."

"And scare everyone?" Skye snorted. "If they're dumb enough to miss the siren and know what's going on then they don't deserve to live."

"Skye the humanitarian," Flex mocked as he pulled her closer. "Ooh, you know it makes me hot when you get tough."

"Ew." Zeph wrinkled his nose. "That's gross."

Flex looked up from his amorous embrace. "Trust me, kid, some day this won't seem gross."

"When it does, can you let me know?" Alec fake-shuddered.

Skye stuck her tongue out at him. "It's called puberty. Let us know when you hit it."

Ben smothered a laugh as Alec spun to glare at him. "Around the time Ben does cursive writing."

"Children!" Skye countered glancing from a smirking Alec to a bemused Ben. "If you kids can't play nice then take it…I sound like someone's mother."

"Mine?" Zeph said hopefully and tucked his hand into hers. She winked at him.

"What are we all gathered here for anyway?" Cece said as she twisted in her seat. "I'm talked out and my bladder feels like three people have taken up residency."

There was a moment's silence.

"Thanks for sharing that with us, Cece. I don't know about everyone else but I feel enriched by the knowledge and will endeavour to be a better person." Everyone looked at Zane. "What?" He shrugged. "I'm new so I can't join in?"

Max grinned at him and felt her heart turn over at his lopsided smile. Her brother Zane was adorable. With his long strawberry blond hair and baby blue eyes he reminded her of a lovable cocker spaniel, and she wanted to smile every time she saw him.

Apparently, it was mutual.

"So, baby girl, what's the meet for?"

"That would be me."

At those words there was a general clamour and people swung around to see Dek wheel Pix into the room.

His face was still bruised and battered but he looked much better than he had done previously. His arm was still in a sling which explained Dek's pushing him around. Chance hovered behind his wheelchair as if she wasn't sure he wouldn't fall out if she moved more than five feet away. She'd offered to push the chair but had gotten such a glare from Pix that she thought maybe it was best not to. She'd be the first to admit that maybe she overreacted to his injury and he'd been great about her neuroses. Right up until she tried to tuck him in and spoon feed him. Then he'd told her in no uncertain terms to knock it off before he knocked her out.

It settled her equilibrium somewhat..

They all watched, some with eyes not totally dry, as Pix came slowly up the ramp that led to command central.

He was wheeled in front of them and smiled at their rapt expressions. "Hey guys, thanks for making me feel so welcome. In no way do I feel like a freak at all."

"Good," Emma said. "Of course if everyone said that they missed you and wanted you back, you wouldn't blush at all."

Pix grinned. "Course not."

"Welcome back," Alec said sincerely and reached over to slap Pix on the back.

"OW!"

Alec froze. "Did I hurt you?"

"No." Pix laughed. "Man, that is never gonna get old."

"Jerk."

"Hey, pal," Ben smiled. "Nice wheels."

"Yeah," Pix thought for a second and raised his voice. "I warn you all right now. Any Ironside jokes will be regarded as an act of war and will be treated as such."

"Aye, aye, sir," Carrot agreed.

Pix eyed Ben. "I hear I missed a good fist fight."

"More of a scrap than a fight," Zan added, not looking in Alec's direction.

"Should you be out of the hospital?" Flex suddenly piped up and Pix shot him a glower. He'd been fussed and fretted over enough already—someone asking him if he was okay every five minutes—and he was sick of it. If he hadn't gotten out of the hospital for the meeting, he would have said something that he'd regret.

"Yes. I should."

"Are you sure, Pix?" Chance's tremulous voice came from behind. "I can take you back if you want."

"No." His teeth were almost gritted. "I'm fine. While I breathe, I will be out here with you; even if Max has replaced me as leader—and about damn time, too."

"You can take back the reigns if you want." Max leaned back on the table and looked into his pale face. "This job sucks."

"No, the pants suit you better. But," he cautioned, "I want to know what Old Bill had to say to you."

Max knew that every eye was on her and she took a deep breath. "He was sent here by Lydecker." As soon as the words were out of her mouth she could feel the tension and heard the intake of breath.

"What?" Alec exploded, this being the first he had heard of it. "And you not only let him in here, but let him go?"

Max shook her head. "Lydecker has Bill's family. Bill told me at the risk of his wife and daughter and I won't hear a word against him."

"What does Lydecker want?" Alec tried to rein in his temper.

"He has been working with White but realises that White has a hidden agenda. Bill said that Lydecker knows White is against the transgenics and that he has set traps to try to kill us."

"Old news," Sunny scoffed.

"Lydecker thinks he has something…more up his sleeve, as we found out at the hearing."

"So Deck's news is out," Pix said scratching his nose.

Zan just folded his arms and looked at Max, knowing Lydecker better than that. "Max?"

"He's offered the use of the two other facilities. They've been moved from Wyoming and Atlanta after the Seattle explosion and he knows the new sites. He's offered us the whole support of X-series and transgenics if White mounts a large scale attack—or gets humans to do it. Apparently, Old Deck doesn't want us dead."

"So he's offered us this out of the blackness of his heart?" Zan frowned. "What does he want in exchange?"

"Us," Max paused, "or more specifically—me."

"What?"

"No way!"

"The hell with that!"

"Uh huh."

"What for?" Carrot's voice was the most moderate amidst the cacophony of explosions at her revelation, so Max answered him.

"He wants all of us to rejoin Manticore voluntarily as militia or military aids; to go on missions and, apparently, be paid for it."

"None of us will willingly be under Manticore again," Drew spat. "We can't trust them not to bag and tag us. I won't go back in a cage."

"I won't risk Psy Ops," Alec agreed. "But why does he want you?"

Max bit her lip and spoke in a mocking tone. "Lydecker sees me a shining example of what transgenics can achieve; created, ostracised, beaten but never broken, neglected but still number 1." She laughed contemptuously. "He said that he will leave everyone else alone if I join the re-standardized Manticore as figurehead: attend lectures, teach transgenics. He said that he'll offer support to everyone who wants in, but he wants me specifically."

"So did you tell him to go screw himself?" Alec wanted to know.

"No, she didn't." Ben looked at her and answered in lieu. "She said she'll see, didn't you, Max?"

Max nodded somewhat amazed at her brother's ability to see through her. "If Ames White and his cult members are as bad as they seem and they have biological warfare on their side and also manage to turn humans against us…" she trailed off.

"We'll need all the help we can to stay alive," Dek finished, casting her a rueful grin.

There was a brief moment of silence.

"Well, that in no way sucks," Isacar said with his usual succinct delivery.

Skye smiled as Galen pulled her hair. She turned her attention to the still silent boy and he regarded her with wide eyes. She felt her heart pound as she stared at the small boy. There was no way that she was letting either Lydecker or White get their hands on this boy; he had been through enough already.

"I don't like the idea of making a pact with the devil to protect us from the demons," said Zane.

"Nice imagery," Dek said approvingly. "But what can we do, if we are outnumbered and the Cult is as good as they seem? Aiden and I were only up against a few and they were kicking our asses."

"Pansy," Pix pseudo coughed and ignored Dek's glare.

"Dek's right," Max agreed.

"And that's not something you hear often," Alec said in an aside.

Max shook her head again. "White and his gang mean trouble, and we have to be thinking ahead. The PR battle is just one aspect of this war. We need for humans to be on our side. Any suggestions?"

"Charity work?" Skye offered dubiously.

"Yeah, we could give out pin badges saying 'I love transgenics' and hold a bake sale and offer free coffee to everyone," Cece said sarcastically.

"Do you have to work at being an obnoxious bitch, or is it natural?" Isacar shot back in defence of his surrogate mother.

"This is how I've always been," Cece defended and Isacar raised an eyebrow.

"Well, do you want us to accept you as you are, or do you want us to like you?"

"I love this kid!" Dek laughed out loud, clapping his hands in appreciation of the insult. "Can I keep him?"

"No," Flex said with a look of approval to Isacar.

"Getting back on track," Pix said, muffling his own enjoyment at the exchange. "Do we accept Lydecker's proposal?"

"No."

"Hell no."

"Maybe."

People turned to Skye and she hugged Galen to her.

"Skye?" Flex asked in astonishment.

"Look, I don't want to be a part of Manticore any more than anyone. But neither do I want to die. Steve's death wasn't just so we could walk back into Manticore, but neither was it so we could be annihilated by some cult with delusions of Hitler. I say some will want to rejoin Manticore, if we can guarantee that we aren't caged and are free to come and go as we please and if we get remuneration. Some won't want an idle life and some won't be able to hack not doing missions and using our given talents, and we should allow them that freedom; otherwise," she shrugged, "we're just as bad as Manticore."

Flex reached over and took her hand. "Brains and beauty. I'm spoiled." He kissed her fingers and she flushed.

"Skye has a point; we can't make the decision for everyone," Alec sighed. "But what can we do?"

Chance smiled shyly. "We can't all run; that would be wrong. Can we hide?"

"Having lived on the outside," Zack offered, "maybe one or two could disappear indefinably, even ten or twenty, but hundreds of us?"

"And there are more every day," Techie nodded.

"Some of us are not exactly blend-in material," Feen piped up looking over at Mole.

"I'm done running," Jondy said. "I say we have ourselves a nice old showdown. No pretty pansy white-bread all American collegiate is gonna run me outta mine. I'm done being anyone's chew toy. I'm up for sticking it out and sticking it to'em."

"I agree…I think." Dek gave her an odd look. "As long as that wasn't dirty."

"I can show you dirty," Jondy winked at him and Drew cleared her throat.

"Not if you want to leave this room with all four limbs."

Jondy held her hands up. "No harm, no foul, chica. Didn't know he was stamped."

"I—agree with Jondy," Zack said slowly to the surprise of all there. "When there were twelve of us scatter and lay low was the plan. It was not feasible before; but since we have these numbers, it makes more strategic sense to give a show of strength and stand firm."

"If Zack's on board then I am too," Jace nodded.

"Me three," B.J. concurred.

"All in favour of a last stand?" Pix asked and put his good arm in the air in a solid punch.

He was followed by every hand in quick succession.

"I'm in," Dek said. "But can we not call it that? Last stand sounds so…final. I have no desire to die for my cause."

"No?"

"No," he said decisively. "I want White to die for his."

There was nothing to say to that.

>>>

Across town in another meeting room sat figures far more sinister than those in Terminal City.

The Conclave of Familiars sat in a circle with hands stretched out in front, their faces drawn and harried.

"How could we have no contingency plan for this?" snapped one white-robed man.

"How could we?" another countered. "Nothing like this has, or was thought to be able, to happen."

"Not even during the conspiracy theories of the sixties has this ever been an issue!" The High Priestess spoke aloud and all winced. "And it shouldn't be now. How in the name of our ancestors did they find us out? Who is Eyes Only and why hasn't he been silenced already?"

"We thought he was small potatoes," White admitted, disgusted with himself. "His meanderings were amusing but with no real basis, until he started on the transgenic bandwagon."

"Now he is a threat and has exposed us!" The Director sneered. "You handled that well, Brother White."

"Our problem isn't that he exposed us," Sister Salter interrupted. "It's that people believe him. That would never have been an issue before. Conspiracy nuts abound but this guy has proof."

Brother Solstrale growled. "How did he get proof?"

"452," White spat and everyone looked at him. "You will remember the breach to security at one of the facilities outside Seattle. A transgenic 'rescued' a test subject and escaped. She was one of 452s crew. She must have reported her findings back and 452 gave them to Eyes Only."

"It doesn't matter how they got it, what matters is retrieving it."

"But the information is out there now," someone countered. "Maybe this is a blessing in disguise."

White turned around to see the High Priest speak, his hands tented in front of him, he spoke in a measured tone but everyone hung on his words.

"How?" the High Priestess asked.

"Simple; we move our plans up. We weren't going to assume control for some years, but this is a prime opportunity. People believe in us and hate transgenics; we could use the current climate of fear and uncertainty. Wipe out the transgenics with the full backing of the people that they were designed to protect, and then the mewling hoards won't have a leg to stand on when they are taken over. They'll have been instrumental in their own downfall. It's," he searched for a word, "delicious irony."

"What do you suggest?"

He stood and moved the head of the room, tucking his hands behind his back and regarding them one by one.

"We can no longer hide in shadows; we have been pushed into the light and we want to stay there. Our plans are not rendered obsolete but we need to redress how we achieve them. Exposure is our first priority; we can deal with the very human Eyes Only after we take care of the greater threat—transgenics. I say we mount an offensive and kill them. Kill them all."

White smirked. "I have no problem with that. I can get a team together and take them out."

"No," The Director snapped. "You had your chance, Brother White. We will use the Phalanx."

"No," barked White before he could think about what he was saying. All members of the conclave looked at him in stoic disapproval and he frantically back peddled. "A thousand apologies, but bringing in this team now could further compromise my cover at the Agency."

The High Priestess nodded. "Your Agency position has served us well, Ames, but the Conclave feels that it has served it purpose."

"With all due respect to the Conclave, bringing in outside muscle is not the solution to this problem."

The High Priest grinned nastily. "Hardly outside muscle. The Phalanx are the best we have—the elite of our warrior breeding line, the tip of the spear. They come by direct order of the Conclave, so discussion is pointless."

White looked around at the faces who had already decided his fate and future before he could have a say.

And now there was nothing he could say. "I bow to the wisdom."

The High Priest smirked. "I knew you'd see it our way. I have taken the liberty of inviting them to our meeting."

White fought the urge to surge to his feet in outrage as the outer door opened and two robed children ushered in the elite fighting force of the Cult.

White admittedly had mixed feelings about the Phalanx. As a child, he had been reared to believe that they were the thing to aspire to: the elite among elites. After he had passed his test to be initiated, his father had taken him aside and urged him to try out for the team, in this case it was to be almost a fight to the death.

Ames had applied to become Phalanx, knowing full well that he excelled in brains as well as in brawn, but it was to no avail. To his utter humiliation he was considered too short.

No matter he was speedy and agile, strong and fit, he was just too small to be taken in as one of them and it had been a bitter pill to swallow. He thought that that year was the lowest of his life—that was, until his father had been revealed and exiled as a traitor.

That had really topped everything as the lowest point in his life.

But when the Amazonian woman with bright red hair and a sardonically curled upper lip muscled into the room followed by three other six foot men he wondered if this would top it all.

"Fe'nes'tol. I'm Thula, team leader."

"Four won't do it," White said bluntly.

White sneered as Thula had to angle her entire body to turn to him, her oh-so-impressive muscles hampering regular motion.

She smirked at him. "I've heard a lot about you, Brother White. I'm surprised you couldn't handle one girl on your own. Besides, we are legion."

"You'll need to be; your target's a little more than just a girl."

Thula frowned with a curling sneer. "You defend your failure by flattering your enemy?"

"452 is a threat to everything we've worked for throughout the generations. Her death is essential for our way of life."  
Thula nodded. "Don't worry, Brother. We'll clean your mess up for you. In fact we'll be leaving in ten minutes to start the clean-up; feel free to tag along. Just don't get in the way. We're not _short_ on help."

There was a smatter of muffled laughter and White clenched his fists.

White gritted his teeth and bowed to the Priests. "I have to go. Fe'ne'stol."

They repeated the farewell and he hurried out, wondering if he could provoke Lydecker into a good old fashioned fist fight—it wouldn't take him ten minutes to kill him, would it?

>>>

Although there weren't many places in Terminal City where you could find peace and quiet, those with an enterprising spirit and a healthy need for solitude could always find some secluded place to be alone.

Aiden had discovered one such place whilst on patrol and he had brought Nyx to the abandoned park on one side of Terminal City.

Aiden smiled at Nyx as they sat on the swings, hands touching as they swung back and forth gently in the small breeze.

"So are you helping Flex and Skye with their evac program?"

Nyx rolled her eyes. "I think Flex knows I'm hardly the people-person type. He gives me the names and I write them down. That way I don't actually have to, you know, talk to them or anything."

"Daddy Flex knows best," he teased and she smiled.

"He'd be mad if you called him that."

"You won't tell him," Aiden said confidently. "But he just wants to take care of you guys, I get that. Skye is dead set against any of you kids going back to Manticore."

"Are you?" She wanted to know.

"Hell, yeah," Aiden shuddered. "That place always gave me the creeps. I just want somewhere I can hang out and be myself."

"Can't you do that in Manticore?"

He looked at her oddly. "No. It always felt like someone was watching us. Even when they took the cameras out of the rec rooms, it always felt like we were on show. No one can be relaxed when they think someone is watching them."

"Maybe not, but Manticore protected us. I mean, after what happened to Pix, I would have thought that you'd be glad of that protection."

Aiden frowned. "In case it slipped your notice, Nyx, Manticore tried to barbecue us. Call me crazy, but that kind of protection I can do without."

Nyx looked away and Aiden regarded her thoughtfully. Nyx almost seemed like she was pro-Manticore and that was something that he never imagined would have happened: that anyone could have actually liked the place.

"Nyxie?" he coaxed. "Did _you_ want to rejoin Manticore?"

The thoughtful girl looked away. "You don't have to look at me like I'm crazy, Aiden. I know that everyone hates the very idea of going back."

"But not you?"

"No," she blurted as if the words had been waiting to come out forever. "Not me."

He sat back in his swing and stared, somewhat pole-axed, at the surrounding scenery. He couldn't find answers in the rolling hills and rusty metal of the abandoned buildings, so he turned back to her.

"Why, Nyx? I don't get it. I mean, Manticore was a cage. They told us what to do, wear to go, how to dress. Why do you miss that?"

Nyx leaned back against her swing rope and dangled her legs over the edge, looking smaller than she was; younger and even more innocent.

"Did I ever tell you that I was squad leader when we were in Manticore? We were too young for having COs but I was on track for that too."

"I didn't know that," Aiden admitted. "But you do have something of a leader in you."

"That's what everyone back at Manticore said: natural leader." She sighed and swiped her hands against her trousers as if they were sweaty. "I had a girl in my squad who I was…fond of; X5-338. She always made me laugh.

_The beds in her dorm creaked; she wondered if hers was the only dorm with beds that squeaked. It often seemed to her that Manticore was so streamlined and precise, so hard and military that everything should be shiny clean and shipshape. And yet her bed and the beds of her squad squeaked with every single shift and shuffle that the sleeping children made. _

_And they moved around a lot. Maybe it was because their steps were so monitored and regimented during the day that the night was the only time that they had to be as restless and unregimented and…and…free as they wanted._

_But that didn't stop the constant squeak of bed springs being noisy and off-putting. It didn't stop the rustle of low-budget, almost wafer-thin bedding from digging into her mind like sharp shards of glass unable to soothe her to sleep._

_She lay back and closed her eyes tighter, wishing for unconsciousness to take her, breathing through her mouth she tried to count the number of times she had heard "Eyes Front" this week._

_There was a giggle from her left._

_She sat up, frustrated and more than a little angry at being forced to be awake at this time. "Don't make me report you!" she hissed but the giggle just came harder. "Stop it!"_

"_I can't help it!" said a tiny voice, smothered in humour. "I could almost hear you counting E-F's."_

_099 couldn't help the wry grin that flickered over her lips at that. Her team-mate 338 always had that effect on her, always made her smile and, somehow, managed to make the days less stressful. "Can't you sleep either?" she asked._

"_Nope," 338 said cheerfully. "I'm excited."_

"_It's only a mission," 099 rolled her eyes. "People go on them all the time."_

"_But this is different," 338 said, her sheets rustling as she sat up in bed. "This one is ours! To think that we are being allowed out on our own!"_

"_Hardly on our own," 099 said acerbically._

"It was one of the first missions that we ever went on," Nyx said. "We were so excited. 338 more than anyone."

"I remember taking my first mission," Aiden said softly as she trailed off. "What happened?"

"We were assigned to play the part of a school group going to a museum where there was some artefact that some rich guy had paid Manticore to get. They never really told us the specifics," she said. "We dressed up in blazers and miniskirts and went to this museum. The idea was for one of us kids to wander off and get lost so that one of the Trainers could cut loose from the group and search. They'd take us to the mark so that they'd have an excuse if things went sideways."

"They chose you?"

Nyx nodded. "I walked off and just walked around the museum, savouring the 'freedom'. I overheard another tour group discussing atrocities of the world war. I listened to their spiel about free choice and pro-life and some of it went in. Then when my Trainer caught me and took me to the chamber where he tried to take the artefact, something went wrong. A guard had been tipped off and was waiting at the security desk. My Trainer ordered me to go in the room while he distracted the guard. I was to kill anyone who was in there and take the damn thing." She frowned. "I can't even remember what it was."

"Go on," Aiden offered.

"I went in to the room and I can remember it being so cold in there, freezing. Or maybe I was just nervous. The four walls were an icy blue and there, in the middle of the room, was a glass case with the…I think it was a rock. There was a guard dozing in one corner. So I tried to take it sneakily. The guard didn't wake as I took out my tools and bored a hole in the glass. He didn't wake as I deactivated the pressure sensitive cushion or when I slipped the rock in my pocket. I would have just walked out with it but I remembered that the Trainer had told me to kill him. But he hadn't done anything and asleep he looked so innocent and harmless. I hesitated, not sure what to do. That's when the Trainer burst in thinking that I had already dispatched the guard. He made so much noise that the guard woke, disorientated and dizzy. He shot the Trainer." Nyx took a deep breath. "I think the Trainer managed one shot before his gun slipped out of his hands. The guard caught it on the shoulder. It was enough to knock him back but not enough to stop him going for the alarm. The Trainer was screaming at me to shoot him again, to stop him. I couldn't."

"It's not your fault, plenty of people freeze in their first mission. I heard Flex threw up," he tried to make her smile but she was too lost in her memories.

"Then things went crazy. The Trainer was screaming at me, the man was sobbing and crawling to try to get the alarm and I had the gun in my hand. 'Follow orders' he was screaming and I ran over to the guard and pulled the trigger. His brains—" Nyx swallowed. "The guard had had time to set off the alarm and more guards were on the way. The alarm was wailing and the Trainer was still screaming. I grabbed him and ran for the exit but the shields had come down, blocking us off. We raced down this impossibly long corridor just trying to find a way out. Then she appeared."

"She?"

"338," Nyx bit her lip. "She'd wondered what was taking so long and she'd slipped away from the group to come find me, see if I was okay. As she rounded the corner the guards arrived. They saw me with a gun, a guy bleeding and a girl running towards us. They opened fire on me."

"They shot you?" Aiden stopped the swing and laid a hand on Nyx's back but she shook her head.

"338 leaped in the way, covering me. The bullet went into her chest. I remember feeling irritated because her blood spattered on my face. Irritated!" She gave a hollow laugh. "She'd saved my life. There I was, dragging a dead man, holding a dead girl, a gun in one hand and no way out. Manticore Trainers appeared out of nowhere and took control. They killed the guards, took the bodies and whisked us back to Manticore."

"Your friend?"

"Died." Her tone was flat, as if she had leeched all emotion out of herself with the confession. "It was my fault."

"You were a child."

"I was a soldier," she burst out. "My only commission was to follow orders and I didn't, and she _died_ because of that. I was saved by Manticore who was protecting us from Ordinaries. If I had followed the orders that Trainer gave me, I wouldn't have screwed up and she wouldn't be dead. If you follow orders then no one gets hurt. They drilled that into me in Psy-Ops over the next four weeks. If you miss the line then it's all your fault. When Manticore gives the rules you don't have to worry about the consequences of not following them," her voice croaked and tears pooled in her eyes. "Every time I thought about leaving Manticore. I thought about 338. She died so that I could fulfil my mission."

"If she was truly your friend, she would want to make you happy," Aiden said quietly, watching as a single tear tracked down her face. "Would going back to Manticore make you happy?"

Nyx shook her head quickly and wrapped her arms around herself. "No," she whispered.

"She seemed to me to have a healthy desire for free will. If she came to find you then she was willing to disregard the rules to make sure you were alive. She wouldn't want you to sacrifice that life to go back to living in a cage."

Nyx swiped at her face. "She doesn't even have a name. I am the only one who even remembers her and she doesn't have a name."

Aiden reached over and stroked the tears from her face. "We'll give her one."

Nyx leaned over and rested her head on his shoulder sniffling at the memories.

Aiden smiled against her hair and kissed the feathery strands. The mystery of Nyx was becoming clearer and with everything that she revealed he was falling more and more for her. They say that still water ran deep and he felt awed to know that beneath her stoic exterior lay oceanic depths that enticed him to dive in.

"Thank you for sharing her with me," he whispered and she stiffened, looking up into his eyes. "I love you."

Nyx blinked. "I don't know what that means."

"It means I want to be around you all the time. It means I want to share everything with you and protect you and keep you safe and happy. I want to fight with you and kiss you and just listen to you."

Nyx smiled tremulously, her emotions in uproar. "I'd like that."

Aiden nodded and laid a hand on both sides of her face, leaning in and starting a slow sensual assault on her mouth. Nyx felt her body stiffen in surprise and the she sort of melted, bonelessly sliding into his arms and pressing herself against him. Her pulse thickened and her blood pounded. By the time she managed to open her eyes he was leaning back against his swing rope watching her with a lop-sided grin.

She had to clear her throat twice before she could speak. "Do you hear bells?"

"Don't you want a ring first?"

Nyx frowned, not having a clue what he meant and then she sat up. "No, actual bells."

Aiden listened, his face growing pale. "Shit, the siren! We're under attack."


	25. 20b War broke out in Haven

**So so so so so sorry that I haven't updated in a while. I have lost a job, gained a job and had to start again from scratch at least twice over. So this part is way delayed, but please pleasre review-- lookat that, nearly at the 1,000 mark!**

All hail the fight scene. As far as I can tell all references to artillery or munitions is correct.

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**Part 2- War broke out in Haven**

When Aiden and Nyx finally managed to fight their way into central command— amidst the throngs of transgenics who had heard the piercing wail of the siren and headed to the hub of activity— they found Max on the dais by the command screen, her hands firmly poised on her hips, glowering at the computer.

She barely spared them a glance as she focused on the picture. "Can you see how many?"

Dix's fingers flew over the keys and pictures popped up and spun away faster than even Aiden could see.

"I think it's a first wave," Dix said and Alec, leaning over his shoulder, agreed with him. Dix had managed to tap into the hover drone footage and spotted a large contingent of black and unmarked vehicles heading their way, boasting heavy machinery on the outside and, undoubtedly, even deadlier machinery on the inside.

"White wouldn't allow us to overpower him." Alec glanced over his shoulder to Max. "This is just the start."

"You mean it's real?" Cece asked, grabbing Harley's hand as they made their way up to the rest.

"Of course not," Isacar scoffed. "Had it been a real emergency we would have fled in terror and you wouldn't have been notified."

"It's real," Max said absently, ignoring Isacar and his sarcasm. "They're coming." She regarded the large trucks as the rounded the corner and appeared on another monitor. So this was it; what they had all been waiting for. This was the time when they'd have to stand up and be counted. She knew as she looked at the screens that some of those she counted among her nearest and dearest wouldn't be standing this time tomorrow. That reminded her. Max spun to see Bill watching her intently.

"Bill, I want you to leave."

"Max—" he started but she cut him off.

"No, listen to me. I need you to go back to Lydecker and tell him that his time has run out. If any of us are still alive tomorrow we'll talk then, on this frequency, and maybe we can cut some kind of deal." She bit her lip. "Actually, don't tell him the frequency unless he agrees to release your family. That should piss him off."

Bill grinned.

"Peatrie, Roma?" Max called two of the Xs she remembered from unit 4 to come over. The two transgenics walked over, their heads held high as they watched their leader. "I need you to escort this ordinary out of Terminal City. His safety is imperative. Understood?"

"Yes, ma'am," they echoed in tandem.

"Okay," Alec took a deep breath and stood at the balcony. "This is what we've been waiting for, people. This is what we've practiced. Alpha team is headed by Max and will take point. That's the front gates and leading attack. Beta team is with me on the walls. Gamma team is Drew's in the rear and Delta team take the air with Aiden." Alec pointed out the team leaders for those who weren't sure who they were. "Does everyone know their assigned teams?"

There was a chorus of 'yeah's and one or two curses.

"Then what the hell are you waiting for? A written invitation?"

There was a mad scramble and Alec felt himself grin. He turned to Max. "How was that?"

"I was inspired," she said, her mouth turning up in a smile even as one of the X-series raced over with her gun.

"Me too," Pix said from his chair. "I got all choked up."

"Just don't fold," Dek said as he clambered into his bulletproof vest, an army issue stolen by two anomalies in the last raid. "I don't want to die."

Pix gave him a glare. "Thanks, no pressure, then."

"None." Dek gave his heart-stopping grin, quite lost on Pix.

"Alec better take care of you," Cece moaned as she handed Harley his gun, rubbing her aching lower back as she did so. "You are no good to me all busted up."

Harley merely leaned over and kissed her. "Thanks, princess."

"Go kill some cultists," she grumbled, her face flushed with pleasure and nerves.

"That goes double for me," Sunny demanded as she tucked her hair behind the microphone she'd be using to keep in touch with those on the battlefield. She was the one appointed to direct the battle from right there in central command, her eagle eyes, so used to watching gamesters and hustlers, now trained for those threats against her family. Biggs looked as his mate as she adjusted the volume and he felt a swell of emotion for mer. She'd been the one who had kept him sane on the outside. With her blonde hair and elfin features, she looked fragile, but he could see the core of pure steel hidden beneath the bubbly façade. As their gazes met he could see the worry on her face and he did his best to smile.

"I'll be back," he offered, knowing that, as part of Alec's team, he would be in thick of it all and might not make it back.

"Unless this is a horror movie, and then you've just jinxed yourself," B.J. pointed out, sliding into the chair by the cameras, his eyes sharp for his surveillance position. Jace offered him a clip around the back of the head as a warning and then paused and tucked her hand into her jacket, pulling out a ball of black fluff.

"I want you take care of Mely if I don't come back," she asked awkwardly. B.J. took the cat and stared up at her ignoring the way the beast tried to claw his jacket to shreds.

"You're aerial assault, that's one of the safest places to be. You will be back."

"Provided you don't get hit by Feen's friendly fire," Techie said as he wrapped a length of wire around his hand and fed some cables into sockets.

"Hey! I heard that," she called. She glowered at him before turning back to Chance and Tara, wishing them best of luck before they headed off to the surgery. They were to set things up for the aftermath and all hoped to hell that they wouldn't have much to do. Techie smiled at her and decided to take matters into his own hands. He stuffed his hands into his pockets and headed to where the thickest group waited.

Isacar waited worriedly with Icarus and Zeph as Skye finished fitting up Flex. "I refuse to a be a single mother," she said under her breath, "come back or, so help me Manticore, I'll follow you to hell and drag your sorry ass back here."

"I love you, too," he said as he pulled her to him for a soul searing kiss.

Techie cleared his throat and Isacar glanced at him. "I'm told it's a traditional gesture to kiss the soldiers goodbye, like a ritual that ensures affection is carried into battle," he eyed Techie, "if you even try it, I'll find some way of maiming you."

Techie sputtered. "I wasn't!"

"Good." Isacar shrugged. "I assume there was a reason for your venturing over here?"

"Yeah," Techie scratched his nose. "You're heading over to the Evac centre, right? Helping the unwilling or unable to get out?"

"Well, you've been paying attention in class," Isacar drawled. "Yeah, I'm on mothers, babies and the rest of the useless detail. Why?"

Techie looked away. "I could use the hands here. If you want to stay with me rather than head off with your family?"

Isacar pretended to weigh it up. "Diapers or devices? Whiny babies or wires? Moaning moms or motherboards?" He turned to Skye, tapping her on the shoulder. "Skye, I regret to inform you that I've been unavoidably detained. It seems I am essential to the mission and must remain here. What can you do?"

Skye pulled away from Flex and eyed him and Techie. "Fine, stay and play with your friend." She glared at Techie. "I swear by Renfro's manly moustache, if anything happens to my boy, I'll make Feen look like an angel and Drew look sane."

Techie swallowed even as Isacar blushed. "Yes, ma'am."

"Good, now if you'll excuse me." Skye resumed her kiss with Flex.

Aiden took a deep breath as he watched the various goodbye scenes that were being enacted all around him. Drew and Dek were so close that he couldn't see daylight between them; Syl and Krit were having an intense discussion to one side. Zack and Emma . . . well, that was probably illegal in public. Even Luke was getting in on the action with that cute Sigma.

He sighed in silent prayer for all his friends, hoping that they'd make it back alive. He turned and caught sight of Nyx putting on a bulletproof vest. His usual easy-going temper evaporated into thin air and he marched over to her, wrath in his eyes.

"And just what the hell do you think you're doing, missy?"

Flex broke his kiss with Skye as he heard the raised voices and saw Aiden and Nyx standing nose to nose.

"I'm suiting up to defend my home," Nyx said, somewhat belligerently.

"Nooo," he countered. "You are going with Skye and Icarus to evacuate those who can't fight. You are not on any attack team. You are not attacking. No attacking for you!"

"I'm a good fighter!" she maintained, picking up the bullet-proof jacket.

"You're an even better evacuee," he snatched the jacket out of her hands.

"Who died and made you the boss of me?" she glowered.

"No one had to die. I _am_ the boss of you and I say you're staying home!"

"Like a good little girl?" she said dangerously.

Aiden was in no mood to heed the signs, or even to notice the looks he was getting off everyone who had stopped their intimate goodbyes to watch the scene.

"Dammit, Nyxie!"

Flex's eyes narrowed at Aiden's tone.

"You need me on your team," Nyx said, folding her arms over her chest.

"Great," he exploded, "on my team. Teamwork is so essential; it gives the enemy one more person to shoot at!"

"I don't want to be on his team anymore," whispered Zan to Dek who bit back a laugh at the unfolding drama.

Nyx growled. "I'm going, whether you like it or not."

Aiden grabbed her arms and shook her, not noticing Flex start forwards at his harsh treatment of the girl. "So I can be worrying about you, losing my head to think that you are in the thick of it all, distracted and getting my team killed?"

"Killed?" Meri frowned. "Can I switch teams too? I don't think I want to be on Aiden's side anymore." Feen nodded her agreement.

Nyx opened her mouth to speak and then stopped. "I just don't want you to . . . leave. I need to fight by your side to make sure you come back."

Flex's jaw dropped.

Aiden held her face tenderly. "I love you, remember? I will be back. Please, please, Nyxie, just stay here."

There was a war in her eyes as she finally nodded. "Okay, just don't die. Dead heroes make terrible mates."

"I promise that I won't do anything that could be considered as brave, how's that?"

Nyx regarded him thoughtfully before nodding. "I'll stay. Just as long as you promise to return."

"Promise." Aiden leaned forward and planted an urgent kiss to her lips. He pulled away and smiled. "I'm superhuman, I'll live through this."

He turned and ran smack into Flex, whose face was dark and scary. "Don't count on that."

Aiden stepped back nervously. "I could have been mistaken; there are worse things than death."

Flex raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms over his chest. "We could find out."

Aiden swallowed at the thunderous look on Flex's face and gave him a tentative smile. "Flex, pal, buddy!"

"Relax, Aiden," Dek said with a grin, one arm anchored around Drew's waist as he looked on. "It's not like you've been making out with the girl behind his back. Oops."

Drew elbowed her smirking mate and Aiden spared him a glare before darting a glance back to a fuming Flex. "Friendly fire, in your case, won't be."

"Don't shoot the messenger," Dek teased.

"However tempting that might be," Max added, strapping an AK-47 onto her back. She turned to Pix who was watching with something akin to envy.

"You okay?"

He gave her a rueful smile. "I always expected to be by your side when it came down to it."

His hands fell uselessly to his chair and she could see the recriminations and frustration written clearly on his face. If only he hadn't lost his cool and walked out of Terminal City to see Logan. If only he had been more aware of his surroundings. If only . . . if only.

"You are," she whispered to him. "I'm counting on you, Pix, like I always have. You're my eyes and ears back here." She moved closer. "But most of all, you're the heart of Terminal City and Freak Nation. Don't you know that?"

She laid a hand on his shoulder and leaned over to kiss his forehead; his eyes shone as he gave her a grateful smile, unable to put into words what he felt.

Alec watched as she comforted one of her oldest friends and he spun on his heel to complete his task. Ben was helping Jondy into her holster.

"You're right and tight, Jon."

"Thanks, bub." Jondy looked up and caught sight of Alec bearing down on them. She looked from him to Ben and back. "I'll be . . . over here."

Ben frowned in incomprehension until he saw Alec standing in front of him. "Huh, that was kinda tactful for Jondy."

"Yeah, seems to be an 09er trait," Alec said, shuffling his feet until he realised what he was doing. He glanced up into Ben's eyes, so familiar to his own. "You're on Max's team."

"Yeah?" Ben's voice was belligerent.

Alec swallowed. "I need you to take care of her for me. I won't be there and you will. I need you to make sure that she comes back."

Ben regarded him steadily, wondering if Alec knew what he was saying here. He was telling Ben that he trusted him to bring her back and make sure that she suffered no damage. Max was the most important thing in the world to Alec—and to Ben—and it was almost like being trusted to guard the crown jewels. It was a heady feeling to be so trusted and Ben, nodded, for once without a sarcastic rejoinder.

"Sure."

Alec gave a sigh of relief. "Thanks."

Ben took a step back. "But I won't hug you."

"Thank Manticore," Alec scoffed and made his way over to the one person he didn't want to say goodbye to.

Max looked up and felt her heart turn over as he stood in front of her. No matter how many times she saw him, his presence always hit her hard in the solar plexus. From his silky-soft tousled hair to his kissable lips, his melt-me-baby eyes and love-me-anyway grin to his strong protective arms and carefree attitude, he just blew her away.

Not that she'd ever tell him; it would give him far too much ammunition to know that all he had to do was cock that grin and she'd fall over herself to have him. She pushed away the swell of emotion and pure lust that always slammed into her when he focused his attention on her and pretended nonchalance.

"Hey."

"Hey, Maxie," he cleared his throat and scratched the back of his neck in his telltale nervous gesture. "I guess this is it."

"Not planning on saying goodbye, I hope," she drawled leaning against the desk with her hip.

He gave a soft laugh and Max motioned him over to the window, trying to get at least a semblance of privacy from the overeager ears of the transgenics.

He wrapped his arms around her and stared out of the grimy pane. "You know if you squint hard enough you can see the Space Needle."

Max choked on a laugh as he repeated the first words he had ever said to her. "Thanks for the memory. I can't even believe you remember that."

"Hey, you weren't the one who got booted," he said rubbing his chest in memory of her kick. "These things stay with you."

"Oh please!" she waved his words away. "If you remembered every single time I hit you—"

"Looong memory," he nudged her nape with his nose.

"You really got under my skin," she admitted suddenly. "I wanted to hate you, but you wiggled your way in."

"You're still under mine," he whispered against her hair, "right where my heart is."

Max wanted to call him a sap; she wanted to tell him that he was being overly sentimental and was making her gag with his sweet silliness; but she couldn't.

Instead she turned in his arms and tucked her head under his chin, wrapping her arms around his waist and breathing deeply of his scent.

If she had to remember one thing for the rest of her life, it would be the way she felt when she was wrapped up in him; when she was in his arms and it felt like no one could hurt her and nothing could touch her. It should have grated that she wanted that protection and security from her mate but it just felt right and she felt a sudden surge of guilt for not allowing him to show it as often as he'd wanted to. For the first time she saw how her independence could have emasculated him and she squeezed him tighter, leaning up on her tiptoes to give him all that she had left.

"I have to tell you that you mean everything to me. I have wanted you and wanted to be with you since we met and I can't imagine life without you; don't _want_ a life without you. You make me proud and you make me whole. I love you, Alec. Don't die on me . . .I need you."

As she pulled away his face was obscured by her tears and his shaky hand reached up to brush them away, his heart full of the words that he had longed to hear.

"God, Max." He crushed her to him and devoured her lips, pouring into the kiss everything that he felt, everything that he wanted to say but didn't have the time.

Just didn't have the damned time.

"They're heading down Main Street," Dix interrupted apologetically. "They'll be here in less than ten minutes."

Max reluctantly pulled away, fighting the urge to drag him with her. Alec forced himself to let her go and scanned her face, imprinting each and every line on his memory, just in case.

He watched as she dragged the soldier back into place and nodded at him, 452 in all her glory.

"Let's go kick some cult ass."

He took a deep breath and pulled himself together, heading over to where his team had assembled themselves. Thanks to the expansion in numbers he had sixty transgenics on his team which would be split between the east and west walls. There were secondary forces installed inside Terminal City in case the enemy made their way through the first teams, but Alec wasn't planning on letting that happen. He inclined his head towards Biggs, Joshua and Flex who would be on Beta team west with him and handed Jondy the reins of the east wall with Harley and Jay.

"Everyone suited up?" he asked and received acknowledgment from his platoon.

"Let's go."

"What, no rousing speeches or pompous fist thrusting?" Drew shook her head. "And here I thought the last stand was rife with mini prep talks."

"Can we _please_ not call it the last stand?" Dek begged.

Ben rolled his eyes. "This story shall the good transgenic teach his son;

And Terminal City shall ne'er go by,

From this day to the ending of the world,

But we in it shall be remembered."

Alec winced at the bastardisation of the St. Crispin's day speech, but gamely continued; "We few, we happy few, we band of brother;

For he to-day that sheds his blood with me—"

"Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile," Ben nodded at Alec who grinned.

"This day shall gentle his condition."

Flex muttered; "Make him a member of the X-Series, even if he is an anomaly."

Max smiled softly and finished; "And transgenics in America now-a-bed,

Shall think themselves accurs'd they were not here,

And hold their barcodes cheap whiles any speaks

That fought with us upon Freak Nation's day."

"Amen," Mole said as he swung his rifle over his shoulder and they left the stage.

Drew's team was stationed at the rear of Terminal City so she expected to have the longest wait for action. After the bio-toxin spill, the whole city had been cordoned off by barriers and miles of barbed wire. Exactly how barbed wire was supposed to keep out invisible viruses she wasn't sure, but at least it gave them a good fortification to defend.

Between them and the rolling vista of industrial buildings of Seattle that led out to the bay and, eventually, the ocean, was a vast expanse of almost abandoned wasteland. If White knew about the no man's land he might try the rear attack sooner, and so she and her team had to be sharp.

Carrot was standing guard to her right, watching over the walls, and Max's brother Krit was on her other side, his eager eyes alert for anything. Zack was on another section of the barrier with Luke, Ganko and a female anomaly called Debbie. Various other transgenics were scattered over the barrier, ready and willing to do battle for their lives and the lives of their friends.

Drew tapped the headset that Techie had rigged up for every team-leader and spoke confidently into the microphone. "Team Gamma all in place, no activity here."

"Yet," she heard Zack mutter over the headset and found a knot tighten in her stomach as the reality hit her.

There was no activity yet, but soon the air would be thick with it. They had to be ready to fight, to defend, maybe to die.

No activity yet; but she was waiting.

Aiden was really glad that Flex wasn't a part of his team. He was well aware that the overprotective transgenic would be less than thrilled at his burgeoning relationship with Flex's pseudo daughter and would quite happily pull out Aiden's entrails. It was a little hypocritical when you considered that Flex had always been the ladies man, well aware of what happened between men and women— but maybe that was the problem. He knew what Aiden and Nyx would be up to, given half a chance. However, that hypocrisy wasn't something he was going to call Flex on. He liked his liver where it was, thank you very much.

Still, he was glad that he was miles away on another part of the compound. He'd just have to stay away until Flex had cooled down.

A couple of years should do it.

He could have done without the added pressure though; it was hard enough knowing that he was in charge of aerial assault without thinking of murderous parents on his tail. As aide, he knew that he would be called upon to be part of the team leaders and, under any other circumstances, he would have been quite happy to be taking point but thoughts of exactly what Flex could do with a pair of chopsticks, or worse, what Skye could do with her pinkie, was throwing him off his game.

Well, at least he had a good team. He flicked a glance over his shoulder to Feen, Meri, Jace, Syl and Zan, who made up the command structure of his team. He knew that they'd stand by him here on the rooftops of Terminal City, ready to rain down fire and sulphur on their enemies. Well, bullets and explosives anyway.

"Nothing doing here in Delta-land," he said into his mouthpiece. "All quiet on the rooftops."

"With you in charge?" came a crackle from his headset, sounding suspiciously like Pix. "Hardly, pal."

"Bite me," he offered cheerfully and sat back against the wall, his eyes scanning the horizon for any hint of movement.

"No messing up the airwaves with inconsequentialities," Sunny ordered from her post within central command. She tucked her blonde behind her ear as she peered into the screens on wide alert. "Keep the channels clear."

"Roger."

"Sorry, Sunny."

She smiled as she ran over the screens again. She knew that White was on his way and spotted the chain of trucks coming onto the radar.

"Alpha team, enemy is turning onto the street. ETA four minutes."

"Roger that," Max's voice said over the wires. "We're in place."

Sunny's fists clenched and she automatically searched the screens for Biggs who was part of Alec's main team. After reaffirming to herself that he was in place and not in pieces—yet—she took a deep breath.

"Times up, people. The guests have arrived."

Pix clapped his hands, shrugging his sling off as easy as he could. "Let's get the party started."

"Can we have the guest list please?" Techie grinned as he finally finished the amendments he was making to the security cameras on the front gates. He flipped a switch and the view changed from the outside view of scattered humans and their anti-transgenic banners to a link-up with a camera halfway down the street, facing onto the highway.

Images of big black trucks filled four screens and all eyes immediately assimilated the information and filed it away.

"Okay, team," Isacar spoke into his headset. "We have four LMVs complete with grenade launchers, three Humvees, two K-42 series TOW missile carriers complete with prerequisite missiles and, ooh, one late model ULTRA AP 3T. Takes us up to a grand total of, I'd say, a truck load of trouble. A Humvee and TOW MC have signalled and divided off. Beta and Gamma teams get ready for their asses. With the ULTRA, I'm disinclined to believe that rotted aluminium gates will present any kind of challenge or, indeed, problem. Alpha team behind barriers. They're coming in one way or another."

"Copy that, thanks Isacar."

The blond put his head to one side considering and then decided to ask anyway. "If it's at all possible, can you preserve the ULTRA? I always wanted one of them."

"Not until you get your license," said Flex's voice over the waves and Isacar pouted.

"Verdammung, die gerechtes nicht angemessenes ist."

"If we live through this, I'll get you one for your birthday," Dek offered and Isacar grinned as he heard Flex growl.

Max eyed Dek and shook her head. "Does pissing people off come naturally?"

"No, I have to work hard to be this good," he answered as he hunkered down behind one of the barrels and adjusted his gun.

Max hid a smile and peered over the top of the blockade she was hiding behind to spy Ben moving into formation some way away with Zane and Sigma on his left, Mole on his right. Other transgenics littered the front area of Terminal City, hiding behind debris left over from long ago skirmishes and the rush to leave the toxic city behind.

The gateway didn't look like much. In fact, to Max, it looked more like a poster of the worst that the post-pulse era had to offer; but it was their home; their own slice of paradise and every single person there would kill to preserve that.

Max could hear the deep thrum of tires coming down the street and she held her breath, counting the tire treads and speed, gauging how long she'd have to wait until the inevitable attack.

Dek looked over at her and spent a few precious seconds staring at the face of the woman he loved second only to Drew. He took in her raven hair spilling down her back, the hard glint in her eyes and the carefully poised posture, ready to spring into action and he grinned.

"Babe, you look hot."

Max was startled enough to stare at him bewildered as he gave her his best heart-stopping smile.

"Kiss for good luck?" he asked and Max couldn't help the glint of laugher in her expression, even as she tried to scowl.

"Kiss my transgenic ass." She shouldered her gun as the roar of engines came from just beyond the gate, the sound silencing the few humans who had been foolish enough to stay behind and heckle the transgenics.

"Yes, ma'am," Dek laughed and pulled the safety off his AK-47.

High above them perched on the gates stood Sal, a third generation X-series with exceptional eyes and reflexes. She'd spotted the approaching vehicles before the hover drones and felt the vibrations of the tires through the structure she stood upon. Sal waited until they rounded the corner and stared at the heavy black trucks, their sinister shine and dark appearance giving her the chills.

Their heavy machinery proclaimed that they meant business and, as they approached the gates, the hum turned to a roar as they picked up speed.

Sal touched her radio. "They're coming in fast, coming through the gates in ten . . . nine . . ."

Max braced herself.

"six . . . five . . . four . . ."

"Here goes," Dek whispered.

"Two—"

Before the final countdown, the driver of the leading Humvee slammed on the accelerator and 5,000 lbs of reinforced steel hit the barricade at its full speed of 65 mph. The wooden gate, backed by iron rods and steel bolts, stood no chance against the machine and imploded inwards in a hail of wooden boards, shards and metal bars.

Max and Dek were forced to duck even in their sheltered position as wooden splinters rained down on them.

"Ow," Dek scowled as he was hit on the head by a board the size of his fist. "First casualty."

"Flesh wound," Max whispered despite the noise. "Now shut up; don't let them know we're here."

"Couldn't hear us anyway," he muttered, rubbing his sore head.

The leading Humvee swept into the compound, coolly, arrogantly, as if nothing could stop the heavily armoured car.

It would have been right had not the transgenics recently acquired Zane, a car mechanic with a grudge against the military. His swiftly assembled Tire Deflation Device, complete with Caltrop spikes, sent three inches of sharpened metal alloy into the tires, puncturing the speeding wheels in several places simultaneously. That much friction and pressure suddenly expunged could only mean one thing.

The tires exploded.

The force of the explosion and sudden deflation sent the car spiralling out of control. The bumper fishtailed and skidded into a second set of Caltrop spikes, exploding against that set as well.

Well and truly out of anyone's control, the Humvee jack-knifed across the compound, smashing into several strategically placed barrels which tucked under the tailgate and flipped the vehicle 360 degrees into the air.

Soaring like a black 5000 lb bird, the Humvee flipped onto its side and skidded towards the broken entrance, its slide sending sparks up into the air like distressed smoke signals. The metallic screech echoed in the courtyard as its journey ended in front of the gate, conveniently blocking the way for any of the other vehicles to enter.

"You gotta admit," Ben said over the radio, "that was cool!"

Max rolled her eyes and smiled. It was kinda cool. "Hold positions," she ordered. "No one present a target."

There was a crackle of acknowledgement from the radio followed by a heavy thump that made Max peer over her barrel to the flipped Humvee just in time to see the front windshield shatter onto the ground and a pair of black boots spring into view.

They were followed by black-clad legs, a bomber jacket and reams of red hair. Before anyone could draw fire the woman built like a brick outhouse dodged behind the vehicle and bobbed out of sight.

"Want I should shoot the truck, ma'am?" asked a southern accented transgenic.

"Of course," Dek replied smoothly. "Because gunfire and an exposed gas tank go so well together, dumbass. Where did you do your training?"

"Easy tiger," Max soothed, her eyes flitting over the exposed underbelly of the truck and ignoring the flush of the unfortunate transgenic.

She felt, rather than heard, the screech of metal as the woman peeled back the crunched top of the truck to pull out her fellow cultists and Max cursed the fact that the Humvee had flipped on this side, making shooting at it dangerous if not downright suicidal.

The crunch of boots told her that the other members of the cultist's army had stopped and alighted from their vehicles on the other side of the fence, and she wished that she could see through the walls. How could she assess the situation if she couldn't see what was happening on the other side?

Max touched her headset. "Pix, give me eyes here. What's happening on the outside?"

Back at command Pix flicked to the screen Isacar was monitoring.

"Okay, Max. Five hiding behind the overturned Humvee, too close to the gate to fire on. Two vehicles have been exited. Twenty in black en route."

Isacar frowned. "Twenty from two cars? What are they? Contortionists?"

B.J. grimaced from his pos. "No, but they do have the grenade launcher and the missile carrier still up and ready."

They watched as the twenty black-clad soldiers marched in formation up to the walls, knocking humans out of the way as they formed a circle around the gates.

One of the braver, and more mentally challenged anti-transgenic protesters shook a placard at the cultist. "More frigging freaks. Scum go home."

Without looking, one of the cultists brought a handgun from their belt and swung it up, shooting the man dead in the head.

He dropped to the floor and the humans stumbled back, away from both the menacing cultists and the dead body at their feet.

The cultists didn't even seem to notice as they moved into position.

"Shit!" Sunny swore succinctly. "They're swarming the gates. Max, take them out. You're swamped."

Max nodded, even though she knew that Sunny couldn't see her. Her throat went dry, knowing that any stray fire would take out the gas tank of the Humvee along with a sizable portion of the gate, fence and anyone within a sixty yard radius.

But she had no choice. "Sal, permission to fire."

"Yes, ma'am."

Sal shouldered her assault rifle, knelt down, braced her arms and took her shot.

The first round of fire sounded loud in the courtyard and, as if choreographed, resulted in a free for all.

The sound of bullets bouncing off metal shields was inaudible amongst the rattle of machine-gun fire.

Max's arms almost hummed as her gun reverberated in her hands, the shells falling down around her feet like metal petals. Her eye was all for those cultists spilling over the fence and gates like ants at a picnic.

The shot and return of fire was comforting in its regularity and the echoes of surrounding fire soothed the beast that was 452, who waited inside Max, ready to pounce.

Twenty vermin were trying to eradicate her people and she'd be damned if she let them plague her home.

She shot at a cadre of twelve who tried to enter by the south wall and knocked two of them back, dropping them like flies.

She stood to follow through and only Dek's pulling her back stopped her from being made into Swiss cheese as they returned fire.

"Shit!" she swore as she ducked back down, bullets rattling above her head.

"Down girl!" Dek said, a frown on his handsome face. "How 'bout being a little more careful, sweetheart?" His heart pounded at her near miss.

From the corner of her eye Max could see Ben and Zane engaging the enemy and she felt a flush of pride that her brothers were fighting alongside her.

But because of their situation and the way they had to be careful not to blow them all to kingdom come, some of the cultists made it through the barrage of fire and reached over the barricades to grab their counterparts.

And that changed the rules.

It was hard to use the guns to shoot the enemy when you had to be careful not to shoot the truck; it has harder still when you had to be careful not to shoot each other.

Transgenics everywhere had to leave their weapons and engage the enemy in hand to hand combat.

Max dropped her AK as soon as it ran out of bullets, not even caring to refill the ammunition as she waded into the fray.

The first cultist she reached was a big son of a bitch, almost topping seven feet and Max's diminutive size could only help as she dodged between his legs and beneath his first blow. She swung around his body and slammed her foot into his knee, hearing the grunt as the knee joint snapped. She followed that up by crashing her fist into his kidneys and grabbing a handful of his hair to smack his face into the nearest wall.

He suddenly dipped in her hands, causing her to lose her grip but gain a handful of hair. He dropped to one knee, not seeming to care about the leg that hung limply from the socket. He used his hips to swing the useless leg around and caught Max in the ankle, dropping her to the floor.

Max cursed as her head snapped back, cracking into the ground hard enough to make her see stars.

She almost felt her brain rattle inside her skull and a sick feeling swam in her stomach. The cultist took the opportunity to try to stomp her pretty head into the floor and Max instinctively rolled, his foot missing her head by a whisper.

Max had never been comfortable with guns, preferring hand to hand, but in this instance she knew that she was outmatched. He was too big, and brute force would win agility and speed. So she had to go with plan B.

She surged to her knees, her hand dipping into her boot to grab the knife that was holstered in the black leather. As she leaped to her feet, she brought the knife up in a sharp arc and aimed for his throat.

The cultist was almost shocked as the red liquid poured down his chest and the air stopped expanding his lungs.

Max swiped the droplets of blood from her face and was searching for her next opponent before he'd hit the floor.

The blow was aimed at his face and Dek staggered back, his jaw exploding in pain.

"Bitch!" he spat at the female cultist he'd named Whippy, after her odd way of tossing her head and whipping her thin blonde hair at him. It was actually a pretty good fighting method as the slim strands stung like a bitch when they lashed against his cheek.

She swung a roundhouse punch but Dek leant backwards, feeling her knuckles swish past his nose.

Feeling more in control he grabbed the wrist as it made its way past his face and he pulled her in, pulling his head back and head-butting her with all his power.

If it hurt her anywhere near as much as it hurt him then he knew he'd won a point.

She stumbled back and he followed it up with a hard kick to her solar plexus, her breath rushing out, hot and fetid into his face. Dek gagged and wrinkled his nose in disgust, grabbing the hand gun from his belt and firing one shot into her chest.

She straightened; a fierce gin on her face as bold as the bullet in her . . . Kevlar vest.

Dek rolled his eyes. "Gee, that's fair."

She kicked at his hand and his knuckles caught the full brunt of her fury, the jolt enough to make him let go of the gun. The metal clattered to the floor and Dek lashed his, no empty, hand out in a back-handed slap and her head whipped back with the force.

She cricked her neck and started forwards again, only to stop and look down, puzzled at her midsection where a long piece of metal stuck out through her rib cage.

Dek let go of the metal bar he had thrust into her and admired the precision of the move he had made. He reached back and yanked at the bar, staring at the blood-soaked sharp end as it slid of the woman with a sickening plop. The shard had once been part of the gate that held their defences and he smirked to realise how useful it had been to his defence. But this was no time to marvel at the irony as his friends were in danger.

He picked up the bar like a star baseball player and waded into the action.

Sunny flickered between watching the fight at the gates and the screens where they were waiting to fight. Max and her team were deep in action, and it seemed that Alec would soon be following.

"Beta team, you're up. The Humvee and TOW missile Carrier are gearing your way. Be awake."

"We're ready," Alec's firm voice sounded professional and seemingly at ease.

Isacar turned to Pix. "The cultists have left the east side free. Shall I order the reinforcements to go to Beta team west?"

Pix bit his fingernail, his brain trying frantically to dissect all scenarios. Would it be a good idea to grab Harley, Jondy and Jay from the east and send them to Alec's aid? Or should he leave them there in case White had more surprises up his sleeve? What if White's team doubled back and he'd left the east side exposed?

The decision was soon taken out of his hands.

"Okay, they're on their way," Alec said unnecessarily to Biggs who had heard the same radio message.

"This remind you of anything?" Biggs asked with a grimace as he pulled the rifle in closer to his body. Alec caught the reference immediately.

They had done so many missions and attacks together that they all seemed to blur into one; but the one that did stick out in his memory was one where he and Biggs had waited behind a corrugated cardboard drum, kinda like this one, for Max to make a frontal attack with her team. What they hadn't seen was Max circling around and catching them unawares, making Biggs fire at Alec in fright. Only super reflexes had stopped Alec from losing the top of his head.

"Friendly fire?" Biggs said with a raised eyebrow at Alec's irritated remembrance and Alec was forced to smile.

"Not so friendly." He shook his head at his old friend. "Just watch you aim. I'd hate to take you back to Sunny in a plastic bag."

As they looked at each other in amusement there was a slight whistle in the air, a rustle of wind and suddenly the world exploded in a shower of bricks, mortar and fire.

Biggs looked up, his mouth open in horror at the hole where the wall used to be.

"Hell! Okay, that's new!"

Alec tapped his headset. "We're gonna need a little assistance. They've got heavy artillery."

Pix grabbed the microphone off Isacar. "Beta team east head over to west, NOW!"

"Wasn't expecting that!" B.J. said with a low whistle.

"Or that!" Isacar replied with a hard swallow as he pointed to screen 6.

Sunny and Techie leaned over and both cursed simultaneously as a black two-man helicopter came into view.

"Shit, shit, shit," chanted Pix as he wheeled his way over the balcony. "Dix?"

"What?" The monocled transgenic looked up from his electronic gadgets, his hands wrapped in wires and a screwdriver between his teeth. He had been working on altering several police issue hover drones to send feedback directly into command central instead of Police headquarters. It was a plan that Alec had suggested for them to gain greater surveillance over the city. If they could get it working.

"We could use those things right now."

"Ven 'et schum on to 'elpe!"

Pix shook his head. "What?"

Dix dragged the screwdriver from between his teeth. "Then get someone to help me! I have one pair of hands, Pix."

"You can't do it alone?"

"Manticore didn't give me fucking octopus DNA!" he snarled at the stupid question.

"Okay, Techie, Isacar—anyone else who can use a screwdriver— help him!" Pix ordered.

An X-series with long dark hair hurried over. "I excelled in diagnostics and repair."

Dix gave her a look. He didn't know who she was and she looked a little young to know what she was talking about. "Name, kid?"

"Em," she said, "X7. I can help."

"Okay," he shoved a bolt cutter in her hands and thrust her at Isacar. "Help him."

Isacar didn't even bother to look up. "I hope you're not bothered about getting your hands dirty, sweetheart."

"If we weren't meant to get dirty then no one would have invented soap, _darlin'_," she retorted and Isacar's eyes widened as she whipped the spanner off him and got to work.

Aiden looked up as he heard the explosion from one side of Terminal City.

"Where do you think that came from?" Feen asked her eyes wide.

"Sound like the west wall," Zan replied, his face set in a hard mask.

Feen's fingers danced towards her headset but she pulled them away at the last moment, realising that it would be distracting to be constantly asking for assurances that everyone was okay.

There'd be time for counting the bodies later.

This war thing was much harder on the emotions than they had been taught at Manticore and Feen suddenly wanted nothing more than to be tucked back up in central command with Techie.

Syl tapped the base of her gun, her eyes religiously scanning the skies. Her back was ramrod straight and Meri frowned at her.

"Syl, what's up?"

"I've never really been parted from Krit during a mission before. Its unnerving."

"At least he isn't under attack yet," Meri pointed out. Syl's lips twisted.

"What's so funny?"

"I just had the image of what my fourth graders would say if they could see me now!"

She kept grinning even as she returned to her task. The task being identifying that strange whirring coming from the end of the block.

"What the hell?"

"No way!" swore Zan as he spied the helicopter headed their way. "No fucking way!"

"Huh," Aiden said around the ball of fear erupting in his stomach. "I guess they have copters."

"Would anyone mind if I threw up?" Feen asked, her calm voice belying her words.

"Yes," Jace answered. "I can't fight with the scent of your vomit all around. It's . . . off-putting."

"Can Delta team please remember that they are soldiers and not kindergarteners?" Aiden requested as his heart pounded. He could feel slick sweat appearing on his hands and he tightened his grip on his gun. Soldiers had been drilled that they shouldn't be afraid, but those who screamed that at them in the training yard had never had to face down a missile-carrying precision helicopter with a tiny assault rifle and half their family by their side. It was unnerving and he felt quite justified in being terrified.

"Would you like the good news or the bad news?" came a voice from his headset.

Aiden pressed his set. "Good news."

Pix's voice continued. "The good news is that it's only a two man chopper with minimal range. It has to get close enough to you to see you before it can shoot."

"If we are in their range then they are in our range," Aiden nodded, the knot of tension edging away. "I like that."

"Bad news?" Zan asked with an odd wince, just waiting for it.

"It's not alone."

Aiden's head snapped up and he was the first to see three small black helicopters fly around the corner to join the first.

He cursed, low and long as he dropped his gun and grabbed a grenade from his belt.

"This is gonna be fun."

Drew had been listening with bated breath as her fellow transgenics were engaged in action. Even though her palms itched to join the fight, she knew that her time would come.

As if granting her wish, her radio crackled to life.

"Gamma team get ready to engage, troops coming your way. Mounting the wall."

Drew nodded and then remembered that they wouldn't be able to see her do it and rolled her eyes. "Copy that."

Her team caught her eye and readied themselves in response.

There was a whip-like sound and twelve metal hooks appeared over the walls edge.

"Grappling hooks," she muttered and frowned thoughtfully. "Anyone good with knives?"

"Got it!" a lizard-like transgenic on her left seemed to catch her thought and sprang forwards almost faster than they could see. Like a frog he leapt into action, all fours projecting him off the ground with such force that Drew was sure he'd smash into the wall like obscene vertical road-kill.

His hands and feet hit the wall and, instead of splat, they stuck so that he could scale the wall like a tree-climbing lizard.

"Huh, there's something you don't see everyday," Carrot said.

Drew watched in amusement as the lizard-man reached the top and perched there, digging in the back of his pants to pull out a knife and sliced through the first rope.

There was a startled yell from the other side of the fence and Drew grinned maliciously.

The lizard turned to crow and that's when the first shot was fired.

He fell forwards into the compound and Drew's heart sank as he hit the floor with a final thud, sending up a loud of dust.

As the impact of his body on the ground echoed around the courtyard the transgenics were silent, as if in respect for the memory of one whose heart had only just stopped beating.

The cultists knew no respect and they flipped over the wall like Olympic gymnasts in training, landing in perfect formation.

"Fire!" Drew yelled and, as one, they opened fire on their enemies; those who wanted to destroy them for no other reason than because they existed.

Drew had seen more than her fair share of fighting and knew instinctively as well as through experience that they were in for the fight of their lives. The cultist fought hard, their faces blank as they returned fire. When they were hit they ignored their injuries and carried on regardless, blood pumping, hands blurring, until the fatal shot where they would just lie down in the spot, dropping onto the ground they had fought so hard for.

Despite her hatred for an enemy who wanted to erase her off the face of the planet, Drew felt a wave of respect for their fighting ethic. They showed no fear, no weakness and carried on until their dying breath.

It was something Drew could empathise with.

When the ammunition started to run low and the cultists were close enough that bullets didn't matter, they began to fight hand-to-hand.

The cultists could almost automatons; robots designed purely to kill, like those metal Daleks in a show Ben had once made her watch. Their movements were almost choreographed, unlike the transgenics who favoured a more fluid fighting style.

Transgenics also spoke when engaging the enemy. They might have been trained by Manticore but the majority of them had been taught by Max and Alec, and neither were stoic when it came to fighting with words as well as weapons.

Barbs spun as often as bullets and quips seemed to cut as often as blades, the cultists not showing their rage on their faces, but their eyes glinting with the fury of the words that were hurled at them.

Drew smirked as one cultist practically foamed at the mouth at a derogatory remark on his heritage and, suddenly, she knew their weakness—Pride.

"I would have expected that, with millennia of experience, you guys would finally have figured the fashion thing," she said as she slammed her fist into one's eye. "I mean, yeah, basic black on black doesn't go out of style. But, seriously, is it that you guys have no imagination or that you have no taste?"

There was a glint in the eye of the cultist and it made Drew's heart sing.

"Abominations like you shouldn't wear clothes," hissed the cultist, startling her. "You should crawl naked on your bellies like snakes. You're animals, freaks of nature that shouldn't be allowed to live, let alone breed. When we're done with you we'll start on your bastard offspring and eradicate them like the vermin they are."

The pat of her that lived in all of them, the part that Manticore had so carefully nurtured and suppressed, left to fester like an infection, sprang up inside her, urging her to kill, to hurt, to make them all pay.

"We're not animals!" Drew spat and her fists followed her words, driving back the cultists with her fury.

_Make them pay_. Echoed the voice inside her. _Make them all pay._

A red mist floated into Drew's vision and she pressed her advantage.

Pix gnawed on his fingers watching the screens as the death toll mounted on both sides. He saw people he knew fall to the ground and had to close his eyes and go on knowing that he would feel all this later.

"How are we doing?" Techie called up and Pix let his gaze linger on screen 6 where the helicopters circles above Feen, shooting at her as she danced over the rooftop.

"Fine," he croaked and shot Sunny a helpless look.

Sunny's attention was torn between yelling commands to Alpha team and watching Biggs get his ass kicked by a cultist.

"We're getting hammered here," Dix muttered and grabbed the mike. "Max, looks like a second wave is incoming."

Max heard the warning as she plunged her fist into someone's belly, her knife long lost in the confusion.

"Copy," she grunted and head-butted the woman she had her hands around, her fingers going for her throat.

It was the work of a minute to snap the woman's neck and Max stood for a second, trying her get her bearings despite the blood mixing with sweat and stinging her eyes as it dripped down her face.

An odd feeling of disorientation swamped her as she halted and she stumbled slightly, her foot knocking against a discarded rifle.

The initial adrenaline rush of combat had long since faded and her body was starting to adjust to the thrust and parry of battle, storing her energy to let out in smooth bursts. With the news that the second wave was coming through she took that second to drag up her energy reserves but found them alarmingly low and. She cast a look around, and could see the weariness painted on the faces of her allies. They had been trained for long, arduous fights; it didn't mean that they didn't get exhausted by the constant physical and mental exertion.

As she stared at the combatants, her eyes drifted down to those who hadn't made it. The courtyard was littered with bodies, their stillness a sick parallel to the vibrant, gruesome action taking place above their decaying corpses.

Fight scenes in movies always seemed to look so clean, but here was reality: blood, guts, limbs and vomit strewed the floor along with the bodies and other debris. Transgenics and cultists alike lay on the ground, bleeding and broken and Max's stomach turned as she failed to differentiate friend from foe amidst the bloody carnage. The stench clawed up to her throat, threatening to choke her and make her lose the scant breakfast that she had grabbed this morning; a lifetime ago.

So many lost; so many would continue to be lost in this senseless battle if she didn't do something to turn the tide.

It was more 452 than Max who grabbed the gun by her feet and checked the chamber for bullets.

She tapped her headset and raised her voice. "946 says duck!"

In tandem every single transgenic hit the deck as Max opened fire on the exposed underbelly of the Humvee that had started it all. A bullet caught the gas tank and, as if in slow motion, the fire sparked the petrol.

A ball of blinding light slammed outwards, the Humvee exploding from the insides out, shattering into a million fragments, each shard a deadly point of metal designed to kill on impact. The swell of fire engulfed the gate, dropping the nearest cultists like flash-fried flies as it spread over the front of Terminal City.

A mushroom cloud of smoke puffed its way above the walls and hung over the entrance like a black cloud of doom, signalling the destruction that lay within. 452 let go and Max stepped up grinning as she shouldered the gun. "946 says engage!"

Transgenics surged to their feet, renewed and invigorated by the reduction in enemy ranks and went to work at eliminating the rest of them.

Max had time to feel superior before she was grabbed from behind.

"You really think that you could escape from me, bitch?"


	26. 21a Search in smoke

******Tissue warning. Don't say you weren't warned.**

**So so so so so sorry that this has taken so long. I really am very very very sorry. Please keep prodding me. The next part is almost ready. If I wait longer than a week to post then you all have my permission to email me and threaten me. Honest! my email address is: fayth 82 at yahoo dot co dot uk (delete the spaces).**

**I'm serious. One week.**

**Thank you to everyone who continues to read. You all rock so much. Gracias.**

* * *

Chapter 21

Aiden heard the explosion through the radio and his fingers tightened on the grenade he held in his sweaty palm.

The four helicopters had swung in close enough to shoot but not close enough to aim and their shots were going wide, causing the transgenics to duck and dodge in a mad dance.

"Why the hell can't they get closer?" he demanded, frustration etched on his face at their lack of co-operation.

Zan returned fire at the chopper, his aim wide. "Maybe because they don't want their asses shot off!"

"Unsporting!" Jace scolded as she ducked for cover.

"Delta team can you cover Beta west?" crackled the radio.

"With what? My ass?" Aiden said incredulously. He peered over the side and saw Alec's team fighting a losing battle with far greater numbers.

"The hell with this!" he spat and pulled his arm back, tossing the grenade as hard as he could towards the nearest chopper.

The deadly small green ball sailed through the air in a delicate arc, swinging almost daintily towards the helicopter.

It bounced gracefully off the door frame and landed elegantly inside the small enclosed space.

The detonation was felt rather than heard as the helicopter exploded. Bobbing down to shield themselves meant that those on the rooftop didn't see the ball of flame whoosh into the air. They didn't see the shock waves ripple in the suddenly humid air, nor did they see the sudden bucking of the other helicopter as the wave rushed them, a palpable, driving force that tainted the machinery, throwing them off course.

One black helicopter bucked in mid-air like a prize winning bronco and swung around, its tail slamming into another, shattering the windshield. The pilot desperately fought for control as the machine careened wildly.

But it was no use, with fried circuits and no way of controlling the chopper, it flipped and went into a death spiral, heading for the rear of Terminal City.

As Aiden and the others finally looked up, one of the remaining helicopters spun in wild circles, its rotary blade sputtering in fits and starts.

They watched it for a moment, a bizarre spiral that was oddly hypnotic. Hypnotic and getting bigger.

"Uh, I think its coming this way!" Zan yelled and dove off the edge of the building as the chopper turned on its side, the sharp metal blades heading towards the waiting transgenics, a whirling cycle of lethal steel.

Aiden grabbed Feen and dragged her, diving off the roof towards the next building. He dropped into a roll and landed harshly on the tarmac, his head banging on the concrete even as he rolled into a ball, trying his best to protect both Feen and himself from the sudden downpour of helicopter parts.

Something sharp pierced his side and he yelled, pain ripping through his back. Feen whimpered at the almost animalistic scream that echoed through her and tucked her knees in tighter, trying to lose herself in Aiden. She dove underneath him and held on.

Drew's fists flew with fury into the face of the cultist and she knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that she was going to win this fight. The woman had no chance and the beast was just waiting for the inevitable slide into blackness that would signal victory. It scented death and it would be sated on the blood of its victim.

"Drew?"

A voice from outside called her but she ignored it. She would make them pay.

"Drew?"

The crunch of boots and the slick feel of blood under her hands was enough for her. Make them pay.

"Stop!" Her hand was grabbed and she spun around, murderous rage in her eyes.

Zack reached out and grabbed her chin, forcing her eyes to focus on him.

"Stop it!" he ordered, his voice firm.

Drew tried to shake him off. "Let me go," she snarled her voice animalistic.

"Soldier!" he demanded and her whole body stiffened in response to the command in his voice.

"That opponent is dead, soldier." He avoided looking down at the bloody mass that had once been a body. "Reign it in."

Drew shuddered once and the haze left her vision. She gulped in deep cleansing breaths of air, dragging them into her lungs like a drowning man. With the breaths she pulled in scents of death, decay and violence and her breathing started to grow ragged as she felt herself slip.

_Pay, make them—_

"Focus, focus," Zack commanded, tapping her cheeks and Drew nodded coming back.

He waited until it seemed that she had control and then he let her chin go, shooting her an odd look that she couldn't decipher. "There are plenty more enemies to kill. Maintain, pull back the anger and focus on the mission."

The mission.

Drew dragged in another breath and went to swipe her fist across her sweat-soaked face.

Zack caught her hand before she could do so and gestured to it when she frowned. It was covered in blood and some grey matter that she didn't want to analyse too closely. He reached down and tore a strip off his shirt, handing it to her before racing off to rejoin the fight.

Drew gripped the torn rag and used that to wipe her face wondering what the hell was wrong with her.

She barely had time to move back into the fight when a sputter of machinery caught her attention.

She looked up in time to see a broken helicopter, spouting flames, bearing down on them.

"Everyone DOWN!" she yelled even as she started to dive behind an abandoned car, the air screamed a wail of pure rage as the heavy black chopper sailed over her head and crashed into the fence.

The blades caught on the fence, slicing through the wire like it was butter before the chopper crashed into the ground, bouncing once before it exploded.

The noise erupted, slamming into her delicate eardrums and shooting a high-pitched whine right into her skull, her teeth grinding at the pain.

A tidal wave of blast flared up and then began to roll outwards, taking everything in its path.

The cultists closest to the fence never even had time to scream as the ball of light engulfed them. Debris flew overhead, lethal birds burning like the mythological Phoenix, but twice as deadly.

A smouldering lump crashed into the ground inches from Drew's aching head and she rolled under the car, her shoulder screaming at her from some injury she didn't remember having.

Memories of Manticore and the way the whole facility had burned and fallen down around her ears swamped her as she clapped her hands over her ears, rocking as much as she could in her confined space. The car rocked and bucked above her, the smell of engine oil strong and potent.

She wanted to close her eyes and forget everything, forget who and what she was, where she was and pretend that it would all go away. But the roar of flames and the shrill screams of those who hadn't found someplace to hide echoed in her head and all she could do was hold on and ride it out.

Almost as quickly as it had started the noise vanished and all she could hear were her own ragged pants and the wild thud of her heart against her ribcage.

There was silence all around, blankets of silence and she wanted to roll in it, pretend that she was asleep with Dek curled up beside her, neither wanting to wake to face the day.

But she had been drilled from birth that pretence was wrong and her eyes flashed open, her brain telling her to get up, to answer the cries and screams that were filtering into her hearing.

She edged out from under the car and the hot, humid air hit her like a hard slap across the face.

Smoke swirled away from the remains of the charred chopper and she dragged in a breath that tasted of metal and fire.

She half-spun as footsteps sounded near her and Zack staggered into her vision.

"Y'okay?" he choked, his face and once-blond hair almost black with soot and ash.

She nodded, coughing a little. "You?"

He glanced towards the wreckage and inclined his head. "Let's get our people out."

Somehow it was easy to take orders from someone who had been born to lead and she forgot for a moment that she was in charge here and allowed him to lead her to the fiery furnace to salvage whoever she could.

The smoke poured into their faces, choking their already ravaged lungs and stinging their eyes, sweat and steam filling their vision, making them blind.

The enemy was swiftly forgotten as they tried to save their nearest and dearest, pulling friends out of the way of the blazing inferno.

Zack knelt in the wreckage rubbing the hands of an X-series Drew recognised from Seattle. She had been a brassy brunette called Roma and was alarmingly still in the fetid air.

"She dead?" Drew asked and Zack shook his head, his jaw taut.

"Not yet," he took a breath. "But we have to start moving people to med bay.

Drew looked up, her eyes intent on the damage to the rear of Terminal City. The fence was non-existent and charred beyond all recognition and the flaming remains of the helicopter stood in a bizarre parody of a guard, stopping the cultists from coming in.

Those who were already inside were swiftly overpowered by rapidly recovering transgenics and the battle which had raged fiercely only moments ago was doused.

Dix breathed a sigh of relief as survivors crawled away from the wreckage that was the helicopter and Drew started to assign medical evacuation and triage. He'd been watching the action with bated breath, from the moment Aiden shot the thing down to the point where it collided near Drew's team and he was more than relieved to see her walk away.

He swung his attention to the screen showing the rooftop action to try to pinpoint how Aiden had fared, but his attention was caught as Pix gasped.

"White's got Max!"

It was as if someone had iced Alec into place—he couldn't move anything: his arms, his legs, the fist he had thrust into the face of the cultist—nothing.

The words echoed around his head _White has Max. White has Max._

Seeing that Alec was incapacitated Biggs reached over and snapped the neck of the cultist.

"Alec?" he yelled and Alec shook himself, his face paper pale in the harsh light of day.

"White has Max!" he repeated and Biggs bit his lip, knowing full well that if it were Sunny he'd already be racing for central command, no matter what the mission was.

The fact that Alec knew that Max was in danger and couldn't be there, couldn't abandon his mission, his friends or the battle made Biggs' heart ache for him.

Alec was essentially powerless here and it showed in the way that the blood had drained from his face.

Biggs searched for someway to reassure to his friend, even as the battle raged fiercely around them, the sound of flesh hitting flesh echoing through the air

"She's got both Dek and Ben with her," he offered and Alec snapped out of his funk enough to pin him with a glare.

"Oddly enough, that's not particularly comforting," he snapped.

Biggs grimaced and looked over Alec's shoulder. "Ooh hey, reinforcements!"

Alec glanced back to see Beta team east racing to join in and he mentally slapped himself.

He was a soldier; Max was a soldier. They had jobs to do and couldn't lose themselves.

They had to do the job.

No matter how much it sucked.

Max gripped the arm over her throat tightly and yanked, trying to pull White over her head. He was wise to the move and used her back almost as a flip board to jump and land on his feet, facing her with an arrogant sneer on his face that she would have loved to erase—permanently.

They circled each other like two prize bull terriers fighting over the last bone.

It was White who made his move first. He had been so intent on getting to 452 and making her tell him the code to capture the rest of the transgenics that she had become something of a Holy Grail to him. The unobtainable, perfect prey.

He lurched forward swinging his arms to catch her with a wild punch across the face, making her already tender jaw erupt with pain.

Stars burst into her vision and Max shook her head, trying to dispel the dizziness that came with it.

White pressed his advantage leaning back to kick Max in the stomach and, as she doubled forwards in pain, slamming his fists onto the back of her neck.

Max dropped to the floor and instinctively rolled, his feet missing her rib cage by inches.

It was the sneer on his face which made her bring her legs up, her stomach muscles screaming even as she straightened, kicking him in the chest with all her force. His breath rushed out and he gasped for air, jolting back.

There was a grin on her face as she leapt to her feet.

"Not so tough, are we Amesie?" she mocked and his face grew darker even as she threw herself into the fight.

The rest of the battle faded into the background and there was only the two of them, fighting for the whole stupid war. Transgenics verses cultists and the blows and strikes were their way of working out the problem of who deserved to live.

And who would die.

Isacar swore long and low as he wrenched the spanner back and tried to re-route the electrical supply.

"Obscenities are the indication of a weak vocabulary and limited intelligence," Em said as her nimble fingers twisted wires. "Throughout history they have been used to supplant descriptive terms with base oaths. Sad really." She sniffed as if in derision.

Isacar's jaw tightened. "Excuse me? I happen to have a genius I.Q. and a larger vocabulary than Oxford."

Em glanced up through her thick, dark hair. "Pity it doesn't show."

Techie's lips twisted into a grin at Isacar's indignation. The kid was fun to have around and he made Techie laugh, even more so when he was getting a taste of his own medicine.

Isacar sat back on his heels and glared at the girl. "It shows plenty . . . I mean—" he glowered even as she smirked. "At this precise moment I am under extreme duress in attempting to salvage some remnant of this . . . this . . . this . . . heap of crap! And endeavouring to be the salvation of my friends and family. Excuse me if I'm not thinking of the Queen's English right now!"

"Frustration is no excuse for sloppy syntax," she retorted, hiding her grin behind the curtain of hair.

Isacar slammed his hands on the hover drone and leant forward only to be startled as the machine gave a click and a whir and buzzed into life with a burst of static energy.

Isacar blinked at it. "I think we've done it!"

Dix hurried over, his fingers checking over the adjustments that Isacar had made. "Well I'll be a—," he peered at Em from the corner of his eye, "—thrice-be-damned descendant of a canine female. You've done it!"

Em threw back her head and laughed. "Well done, us."

"Let's get these things in the air," Techie ordered and reached over to follow Isacar's pattern with his own drone.

"Pix?" Isacar called. "We should have these in the air in five minutes."

Pix nodded, his eyes not leaving screen 6 and the rubble where Aiden and Feen had been. They may have the drones, but it may be too late.

Feen had once sat with her friends in the recreation room in Seattle and they had talked about the worst ways to die. It had been raining outside; cold, harsh sheets of rain, coming down too hard for them to see even a metre in front of them, and the Trainers hadn't wanted to even think about teaching them out of doors. They'd sat on tables, chairs and on the floor and someone, possibly Drew in one of her more psychotic moments, had asked what was the worst way for a person to die.

"Burned to death," Dek had said with a shudder. "Feeling the flames catch you and burn your skin."

"Gross much?" Cece shuddered and he'd thrown popcorn at her.

"Drowning." Pix spared a glance with Max over that. "Unable to get to the surface no matter how much you fought."

"Shot in the stomach," Steve offered. "Bleed to death and know that there isn't anything you can do about it."

"Eviscerated." Had been Alec's contribution as he pulled Max in closer, wrapping his arms around her middle. "Being awake while someone pulls out your insides."

"Death by torture?" Mets leant back on the sofa and thrown popcorn into his open mouth. "Electrolysis or maybe—"

"Sliced and diced?" Analytical Zan raised an eyebrow. "I always wondered at the 19th century tradition of being hung, drawn and quartered. Can't be pleasant."

"At least they were thorough," Coco laughed. "Nothing worse than a half-assed job. If you're gonna kill someone do it well."

"There are plenty of things you can do with scalpels," Tara offered and Carrot looked at her oddly.

"What?"

"You're scary!" he replied and she looked absurdly pleased.

"Max?" Drew looked at her friend. "Worst way to die?"

"Alone," Max said softly and there was silence for a moment.

"Being buried alive," Aiden had said into the quiet. "Knowing that, not only were you alone, but that no one knew where you were or would come to find you; that your oxygen was running out and you were going to die."

More silence and then Feen turned to Drew who had been uncharacteristically silent on the subject that she'd started. "What about you?"

Drew had chewed her gum for a second and then had looked up with a fierce grin. "Dying of old age, peaceful in my bed."

It was that grin that Feen thought of now as she shifted in the darkness. After the explosion of the helicopter and the jump over to the rooftops she had been so neatly tucked under Aiden that she hadn't even flinched when the lights went out.

Once the noise had faded and the dust had settled she'd opened her eyes to see nothing.

Darkness surrounded her even tighter than Aiden's arms. She'd shifted and felt the weight of something pressing down on her, oppressively pushing her into the ground.

"Aide?" she choked.

Nothing.

"Aiden?"

Silence.

She moved her arm and felt a sharp bolt of pain race through it. Tears came to her eyes and she bit down, trying to maintain her equilibrium, trying to be that soldier that she had been trained to be. She closed her eyes and tried to push upwards with all her strength but it was like being pinned down by a tonne of concrete.

The exertion caused a wave of dizziness to swamp her and she wanted to throw up, her head rattling in pain. She caught her breath and was unnerved to hear an odd gurgling sound coming from her own lungs.

Well, that wasn't good.

A drop of something tangy and vaguely copper-scented touched her lip and she instinctively licked it away.

Blood.

But she wasn't bleeding, she couldn't feel anywhere that she was bleeding and the angle was all wrong. Her body was pointing downwards and blood would go down, not up.

Something was bleeding above her. Someone—Aiden.

"Oh, God." She closed her eyes and turned her head towards the floor, her insides aching. "Please, please, no."

But there was no one to answer her and as she lay there she remembered Aiden's own words on that day.

"You were wrong," she whispered into the gravel. "Being buried alive, knowing that no one's coming, running out of oxygen isn't worse . . . than dying with you."

This time the drops that touched her lips were tears.

Ben wiped the sweat off his forehead and felt like crowing. This was a damn good fight!

He'd been spoiling for a damn good ass-kicking since way before he'd joined up with this merry band of miscreants.

The little skirmish with Alec didn't count in any way shape or form. There was nothing like a good old fashioned slam of fist against flesh, knuckles against bone with the expectation of pure joy as something snapped.

He cricked his neck and snarled at the cultist at his feet, basking in the glow of a hunter, a fighter in his element.

The primal part of himself that he let out more often than was probably healthy was dancing inside and wanted Ben to go after them all again. To kill and make it harder, hotter, longer, more painful.

The animal wanted to play.

"Ben, heads up!" Zane yelled and Ben spun to see the red-headed woman bearing down on him with a steel bar.

He ducked as she swung the bar and it missed as he leant backwards.

"I am Thula," she snarled. "You will die."

"I am Ben," he retorted. "I don't _think_ so."

He swung his fist into her chest and was a little more than slightly perturbed when she just smiled at him.

"Okay," he said slowly. "That's just creepy."

Despite her size Thula was quick and reached out, grabbing his wrist and twisting, trying to snap the fragile bones. Ben just let himself roll with the momentum, flipping in mid-air and landing on his feet. Ben suddenly realised that he was dancing on what had once been the gates of Terminal City and he felt a pang at their destruction.

He hadn't been there long, but knew that Max and Mole and many of the others thought of it as home. He felt somehow disrespectful for standing on the fortifications and stepped off the rubble onto the streets.

There were plenty of humans still dumb enough to be standing around watching; no matter that they had seen the cultists shoot some of their number without blinking. No matter that they heard the gunfire and the yells from within.

Ben rolled his eyes, wondering what exactly it was about them that Max found so appealing.

He slid backwards over a large brick motioning for some of the humans to move further back. They gazed at him in confusion and he rolled his eyes as more transgenics spilled out on the streets, forced or drawing the cultists away from their home.

"Streets ain't safe!" Ben called to several gawping humans. "Might wanna mush!" They just stared. "Fucking cannon fodder," he grumbled and moved in between them and the approaching mammoth who had somehow realised that he wasn't coming back in to fight her.

Ben made his feet steady and waited.

He wasn't on his feet for long, however, as she backhanded him with all the force of a mama elephant and Ben slammed into the brick wall behind him, his head cracking the concrete and clay.

Thula swung her metal bar and Ben ducked just in time to have flakes of brick rain down on him.

He darted under arm and blurred around the back of her, jamming his foot into her spine and pushing with all his might. The juggernaut faltered but managed to keep her footing, spinning around to land a punch on Ben's face that felled him.

Laying back on the concrete floor, Ben shook his head, trying to reassure himself that there weren't six Deks fighting just metres away from his prone body.

One Dek was bad enough; imagine what six of them could do.

Ben heard a roar coming from his left and felt the impact of something heavy boot him in the side.

He curled up as his stomach hurled up everything that he had eaten that morning onto someone's shoes. The acrid taste of vomit was on his tongue and he spat, trying to clear the palate.

"Bitch!" he rasped as he flipped to his other side, every sense, that wasn't currently reeling in orbit, fixated on her position, trying to predict where she would go next.

The shift in the air and the slight scent change had him surging to his feet, flailing backwards as she came at him again with the bar. He jumped back, his eyes searching for something that he could use as a weapon.

"We are legion and we are more powerful than you pathetic lab rats can comprehend."

Ben blinked. "Say what, sweetheart?"

"We will prevail."

"I think someone has delusions of grandeur, and sweetheart, you ain't that grand."

Thula advanced on him, catching him a blow to the ribs with the bar. "Our order has been in effect for longer than you can imagine and we are not to be beaten." She looked up at the people that still hung around and smirked. "Humans will be next, after your culling. We own this planet."

"I'd say your lease is about due," Ben snarled as he threw himself at her. She swiped him off like he was a flea and stood over him, the bar raised.

"We will eradicate you and your sub-species from the face of our planet. Sandeman's scheme will not prevail—"

"Oh, God, kill me already!" Ben moaned. "Spare me the propaganda."

"Had I the time you would beg for death."

"I'm begging for it now!" Ben reminded her, his hands spread wide.

Thula lifted her head. "As the plague sweeps the earth, you will not be able to dodge it."

"Hey, bitch?"

Thula swung to the sound of the voice and was met by the barrel of Dek's gun.

"Dodge this."

The sound of the shot echoed in their ears as she fell to the floor, her hefty body impacting with the concrete.

Ben stared at her corpse for a long moment and then held out his hand. Dek reached down and hauled him to his feet, both of them staring at the corpse on the floor, her brains making pretty patterns with her red hair.

"She was a big one!" Ben said and Dek nodded.

"That she was."

"I could have taken her."

"That you could."

"Just so we're clear," Ben added and scratched the back of his neck, his ribs aching fierce. "Nice Matrix moment."

"I thought so." Dek grinned. Suddenly Dek froze in place and Ben could practically see his heckles rise. His shoulders stiffened and he turned slowly, his eyes searching the inner grounds amidst the ruins and wreckage until he saw it.

Max and White were locked in a deathly embrace, her nails gouging bloody ruts down his face as he tried to twist her head off her shoulders.

Dek felt as if someone had grabbed his heart in an ice grip and squeezed.

"Max."

Ben followed his gaze and he, too, straightened, fury making his face an expressionless mask.

"Kill him."

Techie rammed the hatch shut on the last hover drone and watched as it whirred into action.

"Gotcha!" he crowed with uncharacteristic exuberance and everyone around smiled wearily.

Pix gave Sunny a look and she darted in front of screen 6 as Techie made his way back up to the command screen.

He grinned sheepishly at them. "The birds are in the air, they should be making contact with our guys in less than five minutes."

"Great, thanks." Pix frantically searched his mind for a way to send Techie away before he realised that they were hiding screen 6 from him. "Techie, I need you to, uh …uh …find me some …some—"

"Plastic explosive," Sunny blurted, "we need some plastique to rig the buildings in case anything goes sideways. Provisional plan."

Techie stared at her for a long minute. "You want something to destroy Terminal City if …" His eyes snapped to the screens. "Where is she?"

Sunny bit her lip and shifted slightly on her feet. The movement was enough to have him rushing over.

Sunny tried to hold him back but he grabbed her arm in a grip of steel and shunted her to one side. His eyes fell on the screen where only two soldiers were left on the rooftops, shooting helplessly at the remaining helicopter. He scanned the surrounding screens but couldn't see Feen, Aiden or Zan.

He swallowed hard. "Where is she?"

There was silence around him.

He spun back, his usually shielded eyes hard. "Where _is_ she?"

Sunny reached over and flicked a switch. Screen 6 crackled back to life.

It took a moment for Techie's eyes to adjust to the picture because all he could see was blackness and some kind thick mist, almost like smoke.

Smoke.

As his focus sharpened he made out the shiny black panel of a helicopter door frame, other deep black debris covered the smoking ground and all Techie could see was smouldering black metal parts.

He reached forward and put his hands on the back of a chair. "Is she under there?"

"Yes." Pix's voice was hard and Techie's fingers tightened on the chair, the plastic cracking under his hands.

There was a look on Techie's face that they had never seen before, one that maybe Manticore had never seen before.

Pure unadulterated rage.

He shoved the chair he held away from him and headed for the door.

"Should I stop him?" Isacar asked worriedly.

Pix stared at the fragments of chair on the floor. "Don't think you could."

Drew hoisted another body clear of the debris and swiped at her grimy forehead. "I don't think they're gonna come this way again."

Zack followed her gaze to the fiery blockade preventing anything for coming through the rear entrance. "Not if they value their lives, which," he toed a corpse at his feet, "I imagine they do."

Drew cracked a smile and felt her face stretch. It seemed like an eternity since she had been standing in central command, laughing and joking with her friends.

She opened her mouth to call Carrot to come and help her lift one of the bodies when her radio crackled to life.

"Drew … fire … Alec?"

Drew frowned, tapping her headset. The blast and residual explosion must have knocked her frequency out. She adjusted it.

"Come again? You want me to shoot Alec?"

"Neg … needs –up … repeat, Alec –eeds ba—up. Go … -eta wes—"

Drew glanced up at Zack who bit his lip. "Needs backup?"

She shrugged. "You want me to go to Beta team west?"

"—uckin' said. Never lis—n."

A smirk tripped her lips as she turned to Zack. "I'm taking half to help Alec. Can you—"

"Go," he urged her, dragging a hand through his hair. "I can order triage and maintain the area."

She nodded to him and began to recall her troops to battle.

Alec was very glad that he couldn't see what was happening, as it meant that he had no idea exactly how insurmountable their odds were.

Oh, they were ahead by numbers, no doubt about that. And the transgenics had a creativity that the cultists lacked, but what the cultists lacked in imagination, they made up for in absence of pain responses.

Nothing was more demoralising than beating the shit out of your enemy and him not caring.

Alec threw another punch and watched in exasperation as the cultist shook him off like an irritating flea.

Alec shook out his fist and decided to go for the rather ungentlemanly action and kicked him in the groin.

The man folded to his knees, eyes watering and Alec grinned maliciously. "Hurts, don't it?"

"Enjoying yourself?" Biggs gasped as he killed his own opponent with a gunshot to the head.

"We got back-up?" Alec asked as he swiped blood away from his lip.

"Beta-east is here and Pix just sent out a call for Gamma to join us."

"Good," Alec said as he cricked his neck. "Maybe Drew can take some of her frustration out on these assholes."

Biggs just grinned and darted back into the fight.

Alec threw a look over his shoulder, wondering if he could head over to the front gates to help Max out. He wondered if she had defeated White yet or if she was in further trouble. The radio silence was killing him.

He grabbed a discarded gun and fired a few shots before it ran out of bullets. Cursing in three languages, Alec used the butt of the gun to slam into a cult member's nose and grimaced as blood spattered over his clothes.

He had the odd thought that, if they survived this, the hot water heaters would be taking a beating.

He was so lost in the smooth movements of kicking ass that it didn't register when they were joined by Gamma team until Drew saved his ass from being shot.

He looked up, surprised as the man with the gun was decapitated by a piece of sharp sheet metal.

Alec looked at the shiny weapon. "Nice."

Drew flicked the discarded rotary blade over and nodded. "I thought so. Dek wouldn't buy me a samurai sword, so I had to make do."

"I'll tell him about that," Alec grinned and she bit her lip.

"Heard on the radio that White has Max."

"Yeah," Alec's back stiffened. "I hope she kills the son of a bitch."

"Wanna go help?" Drew knew that if someone had a hold of Dek there was no way that she'd be able to stay away, least of all if his captor was the man who'd been trying to kill them all. Drew could see the look on Alec's face, knew that he wanted to follow Max as soon as possible.

"I have my orders," he bit out, desperately wanting to go. "I'll hold."

"Alec," she started, her hand whipping up and slicing the arm off a man who had been sneaking up alongside her. "I think we can take them. Max might need help."

Alec head-butted the armless man and threw him back to Drew who neatly ran him through. "I won't desert my post, Drew. Max has Ben and Dek with her, and Zane and half a dozen others."

"But not you," Drew reminded him. "Your head won't be in the game until you go help. So go."

Alec warred with his head and his heart, both of which urged him to go to is mate, to fight by her side and help her in any way possible. But he had been assigned to stay here and he would follow her orders, damnit. "Can't," he said again and Drew nodded slowly, seeing that he was struggling with the decision. It made her respect him all the more as her CO, to know that he wouldn't abandon them even if Max was hurt.

"Let's kill some more of these guys," Alec suggested and Drew nodded, moving in tight formation with him.

As they moved into position there came a rumble from behind the blasted walls and they froze. Both suddenly remembering that the armoured cars held more than just the cultists.

"Did someone forget to mention the missile carrier was still in play?" Drew asked, her voice pleasant.

Alec kept an easy smile on his face, even as his heart sank. "Oops."

Techie's feet barely touched the floor as he sped over the ground between the central command centre and the warehouses on the east side, where Feen had been stationed.

She had been a pain in his ass, ever since that mission where he had corrected that line of code in her work and stopped the mission from going sideways. She'd decided to take that as a sign that he was ready for human interaction and worked her ass off to get him humanised, domesticated and housebroken. He'd run, he'd hid; he'd begged, pleaded and refused point blank and now …

Now he'd host tea parties in his damned underwear if she'd just be all right.

There was no sign of the sweet, easy-going teen turned man in his face as he caught sight of the wreckage littering the floor in front of the warehouses. The shards of metal and the fiery pieces of engine just made his legs blur faster, his feet pounding to the rhythm of his heart as he headed for the steps that led into the building and up to the roof.

Feen wasn't allowed to be dead. There would be something fundamentally wrong with the universe if her bright spark was dimmed and there was no possible way that it could be allowed to happen.

No way.

From her chirpy manner to her Manticore be-damned _hair_, she was a bundle of joy and vibrant light and it wouldn't go out.

It couldn't.

The roof door had been jammed shut by fallen machinery but Techie didn't care. Finding strength he didn't even realise he had, he rammed the door with all his might and it catapulted open, something skittering across the courtyard of the rooftop.

He didn't even stop to see what it was but raced for the downed copter shell, its scattered parts black and ominous.

"Feen?" he called frantically and stared at the hunk of machinery for a moment, not knowing what to do.

Then his hands started scrabbling at the ruins, fingers finding purchase on the tattered edges and yanking with all his might.

The black mass shifted and he started to throw rocks and metal parts over his shoulder, not caring where they landed or what they slammed into on their descent to the ground.

The whole world seemed to slow as the next part uncovered a thin, pale hand poking out of the ground.

Techie gritted his teeth and yanked at the helicopter door, dislodging it slightly as he pulled. Taking a deep breath, he thought about the sweet broken girl underneath, thinking about the time he'd found an odd piece of wire and twisted it until it resembled a tornado. Feen's face had lit up as he'd explained how the twisted hurricane reminded him of her; mad and dangerous and something that would completely suck you in, given half a chance.

He focused on the look on her face and hauled the sheet metal off her. Then he looked down, his heart stopping dead in his chest.

Aiden lay still and unmoving, his arms curled around Techie's girl, blood matting his hair and face, his arm bent back at an unnatural angle and his back twisted. Feen's shock of red hair was just as still underneath him and Techie knelt down, gently disentangling the unconscious man from Feen.

"Feen?" he whispered, "C'mon baby, wake up."

Aiden's body lolled to the side and Techie bit his lip as he looked the man over, his body broken and abused.

"Fuck!" he swore and laid Feen down, his hand reaching for Aiden's pulse point. The thrum of blood under his finger and slow thump of a heartbeat told him that Aiden wasn't dead, yet, but needed to be taken to the infirmary before he died of his injuries.

He turned back to Feen, his eyes running over her body to search for injuries. He couldn't see anything major, although her little frame bruised and battered more than he'd like. He ran a hand over his face. Should he move Aiden whose injuries seemed more life threatening, or should he take care of Feen first?

A small cough distracted him and he was at her side in an instant. "Feen? Baby, talk to me."

She coughed again, the action wracking her whole body in spasms of pain. "Tech?" she croaked and he slid a hand through her hair.

"M'here, where are you hurt?" his hands danced over, trying to find broken bones or cuts.

"Aid—n," she gasped wetly. "Hurt. Shielded me."

"Yeah, he took good care of you," Techie swallowed as a trickle of blood edged out of her mouth and dribbled down her chin. "Fuck, _fuck,_ you're bleeding, baby."

"Think I punctured something insides. Don't be mad."

"I'm not mad," he insisted even as he looked around frantically for help, for something to bandage her up. For something to help her, damnit!

"Is he dead?"

"No."

"Am I?"

Techie grabbed her hand, tears sliding down his cheeks onto hers. "No. you're not allowed to die, Feen. It's not allowed. I . . . I . . . forbid it!"

"D—d—dumbass," she managed and coughed, blood spilling out of her mouth to mingle in her hair, the colours clashing. "You came."

"What?" his tone was furious.

"Didn't die alone. Didn't think anyone was coming."

"Gotta get you to the infirmary," he urged, his voice thick.

"No!" she grabbed his hand. "Can't move me without help, some kind of stretcher. Punctured lung, collapsed rib cage. Carrying me'd make it worse." She sucked in a breath. "And it feels real bad already."

Techie swiped his forehead. "I need to get help."

"Take Aiden," Feen urged. "Get him to the med bay. Then come back for me, with a stret—," her words were lost in a curdled gasp and a final cough and Techie clutched at her hand.

"Feen? Feen? Fe-fe?" Her hand drooped in his grip and her tiny fingers uncurled, fingers laying flat in his huge palm. Lifeless.


	27. 21b Game Over

A/N- I said a week but no one emailed me pouts . Are people still reading this?

Anyway. Here's the next part. Last part. Only an epilogue to follow next week.

**Wow this is actually really hard. Just so's you know. TISSUE WARNING!!!!!!**

**

* * *

Chapter 21b- Game over**

Dek and Ben flanked Max and White looked up into their hard eyes, his face twisted and angry.

"Body guards," he sneered, "or guard dogs?"

He reached up and snapped his fingers and two cult members raced over, their faces impassive.

Max pouted, her body sagging and her mouth dripping blood down her shirt. "How come you guys don't come when I click my fingers?"

Dek gave her a smirk. "Who says we don't?"

Ben eyed him. "Speak for yourself, bro, takes a little more than that to get me revving."

"Too much information, thanks," Max said with a twist to her lips.

"Ok," Dek said, wriggling his shoulders. "I'll take the ugly one."

"Right," Ben nodded and regarded the three men in front of him. He paused and turned back to Dek. "Can you be a bit more specific?"

Dek rolled his eyes. "The one on the left."

"Ah," again Ben paused, "your left or my left?"

"My left!"

Ben waited a beat. "So which one do I get?"

Max raised her eyes heavenward and looked apologetically at Ames. "See what I have to work with here?"

White wasn't sure what to say to her teasing and merely snarled. "You should have all been eradicated from the gene pool!"

"So says a man who can't get it up," Dek mocked and looked at Max, "can we kill 'em now?"

"Please do," Max punctuated her words with a roundhouse punch at Ames White.

White snarled at her as he ducked the punch once again and back-handed her.

Max tumbled aside, tripping over a discarded metal drum with less than feline grace. She impacted with the floor and had to bite back a scream as something happened to her leg to make it scream in agony.

Max looked down, her vision blurring to see the tip of a Caltrop spike punch through her jeans, soaking the black material with thick dark liquid.

White mocked her as he sauntered around the drum, bending to grab a steel bar, probably the one that Dek had dropped not so long back. He leapt on top of the drum and glared down at Max who lay winded on the floor.

"Pitiful excuse for a species. I will take delight in wiping you all out."

"Asshole!" Max wheezed, the pain in her leg excruciating.

White merely grinned as he brought the bar down, hacking viciously down towards Max.

She was able to roll out of the way, just in time, and the bar slammed into the drum, pushing the rounded metal and unsteadying White who fell off backwards.

Max reached down and yanked at the metal spike in her leg, gritting her teeth so hard her head explode in pain. She threw the spike at White who had recovered enough to fend off the projectile.

"Why won't you just die?"

Max smirked. "Heaven won't have me and hells afraid I'll take over. What's your problem, Ames? Daddy didn't love you enough?"

He reared to his feet and aimed the bar at her again.

This time she knew she wouldn't be able to duck or roll, there was no room and so she brought both hands up, waiting for the descent and grabbed the bar with both hands, twisting it out of his grip.

Her hands stung as the metal resonated in her palm and her grip slackened. By the time she had her hands under control White had picked up another shard of metal and they faced each other like two duellists.

They circled each other cautiously, knowing that they were evenly matched.

Max let her eyes sail slightly over his shoulder to where Dek and Ben were working as a tag team to annihilate the members of the cult. Her eyes drifted a little further and her eyes softened.

"You've lost," she said, pinning him with a sure smile.

White allowed her circle him around until he could see what she had.

Whilst he had been so intent on fighting the ever-annoying 452 his fellow cultists had been doing their damned best to destroy everything else. They had allowed the fighting to rush out into the streets and some curious and too-dumb-to-procreate humans had gotten in the way.

Mole stood, Bertha in front of him as he shielded one of the humans from a cultist's rifle range, his cigar hanging from his mouth as he defended one of the people who had tried to kill him.

Zane stood by him, herding humans towards an alley where they could escape.

Neither of them saw what both Max and White saw—a hover drone with camera mounted to its front, taking pictures for prosperity.

Max smiled, despite the agony she was in. "Even if you win, even if you take us all out. You've lost. Humans have seen what you are, what your agenda is. No matter what happens here today they'll hunt you all down. There's more of them than there is of you and humans can be pretty tenacious. Think Auschwitz, Ames. You and yours hunted down by those you look down on and experimented on. You're about to become very unpopular."

It was with a sinking heart that he realised she was right. He could see the way the tide was turning in this fight, transgenics already ganging up and taking out the cult in droves and not giving up, protecting each other and those humans.

He had thought that he and his would one day be the superior species on the planet and they would be respected and revered. In less than two months the cults carefully laid plans had unravelled and he would be hunted, ostracised and dissected by the vermin he had thought to usurp.

He was beaten.

But damned if he wouldn't take as many of these filthy scum-sucking vermin with him as he could.

His pocket suddenly felt so heavy with the burden of what he knew he would have to do and he tightened his grip on the bar.

"I'm not done yet, 452."

Max stared at him for a long moment. "Yes you are."

She swung the bar like a star baseball player and he brought his up in time to block her swing. And the next.

And the next.

Max slashed and swung the bar like a sword at White and each time White managed to block the blow. He wasn't attacking and it took Max precious seconds to work out why. He was herding her, like a sheep. Every time she took a step forward he was positioning her. Max froze and she saw the instant he realised she had caught onto it.

"Not so very stupid," he allowed and shifted back. "But I think we're done here, 452." He reached behind him, letting one hand free of the bar. Before Max could swing, he'd dropped down and grabbed a gun from an ankle holster and aimed it at her.

The gunshot echoed in the courtyard and Max dropped the bar, her whole shoulder growing numb.

White smirked as she staggered back and dropped to her knees, her injured leg not able to stand her weight as she fell.

He stood over her and looked down. "I wish we could have continued this, 452, but I have a new mission now. Rats shouldn't be allowed to leave a ship but, in this case, I think that the end justifies the means. Oh, you didn't think we knew of your…mothers and babies plan?" he laughed as he taped her forehead with the barrel of the gun. "Did you ever study earth history? You know that the Black Death was caused by rats but didn't wipe out the rats, I think it's time to redress that balance."

He smiled, almost sentimentally and brought the gun up with a stinging pistol-whip and as blackness drowned Max she heard a scream.

Sounded like her name.

* * *

All Alec remembered of the few moments after Dek's frantic scream down the radio was pure, blinding fury and pain.

Drew would later tell him that he was like some dervish doling out blows and fists like candy. He felled several cultists before he couldn't take any more and turned away, racing for the gates of Terminal City.

No one blamed him.

Drew took up command and ordered a combined strike, the transgenics banding together to fight the common enemy.

Alec was impervious to all of this as he tore through the streets of Terminal City, his heart pounding as loud as his feet as his thoughts centred on reaching Max.

Max.

They had spent so long circling around each other back in Seattle and had fought hard on the outside, now things were all right for them he didn't want to lose her, couldn't lose her.

He skidded as he rounded a corner and his feet slid out form under him, his trousers tearing as he went down.

Letting out expletives that would have had Skye soaping his mouth Alec hauled himself to his feet, brushing grit from his hands as he started to move again.

Which was when he heard it; a low groan of pain coming from a pile of debris in the centre of the courtyard.

His heart screamed at him to ignore it, to race to find Max but his head and the sense of honour Max had instilled in him told him to at least look.

He scurried over to the rubble cursing loudly.

"If this is a cultist I swear I'll rip off your damned head!" His hands reached for a large stone and he hauled it over his shoulder before grabbing another piece.

There was a patter of footsteps behind him and Alec swung to see Isacar racing by.

"Isacar, help here!" he called but the boy didn't stop.

"Can't!" he yelled as he headed for a doorway nearby. "Feen and Techie are in trouble."

Alec's heart sunk. Feen and Techie and Max. Why were things going so wrong all of a sudden?

Hang on.

Feen was on the aerial team that meant that whoever was under here was also on that team.

Hands shaking now, Alec pulled the stones away faster, sharp edges tearing his hands as he worked, sweat trickling down his back and pouring into his eyes, blinding him as he frantically tried to help a friend.

As he moved one large piece that looked like an engine part he saw a swatch of blond hair, fine and pale caked with dirt.

He tore away more rocks his brain frantically trying to identify the person. Was it Sunny? No she'd been on the security team. Damnit, why couldn't he remember?

It wasn't until he heaved aside the sheet metal and looked down at a very bruised and battered face that he saw who it was he was saving.

Zan.

The man who had betrayed his secrets to a serial killing psychopath, who had done his best to get Alec's girl, who had turned on him without a second thought.

Zan was here bleeding to death and Max was somewhere dying without Alec being there.

He had a choice here.

He could walk away now, run to Max and be with her if she was dying, he could be at her side and get her to the infirmary and be with the woman he loved.

Or he could choose to save Zan, take him to the infirmary and give him a chance to live while Max was without him.

Alec stopped and stared down at the fine blond strands, coated with blood and ash and grease, and chose.

* * *

Isacar raced up to the tower and bolted onto the roof. As his lungs burned her vowed to stop reading so many books and get some damned exercise.

The sunlight is fading to a dim glow as he makes it out onto the rooftop and his chest burned as he saw Techie slumped over the still form of Feen.

He swore, long and low and edged over to Techie, barely noting the man laying inches away, bleeding slowly.

"Tech?"

At the sound the man jolted back, tears streaming down his face. "She's dead, I couldn't—she's gone."

Isacar's own eyes filled up at the raw pain on Techie's face. He looked like his heart was broken, shattered into pieces at his feet, the shards scattered among the red.

"What can I do?" Isacar asked helplessly, as tears tracked Techie's cheeks. He edged over to Techie and touched his shoulder.

Techie seemed lost, not knowing what to say. His mouth opened and closed a few times before he looked up like a lost soul at Isacar.

"I don't know, she'd always tell me."

Isacar swallowed the lump that blocked his throat and wiped at his damp cheeks. "I know, Techie, I'm sorry."

There was a screech from overhead and they saw the hover drones lift into the air, taking in the final battle and enabling those at Headquarters to better see the battle. He knew that there was still one helicopter out there, badly damaged but, with the improved drones, they'd find it and get rid of it easy.

The tide of the battle had turned and soon it would be time to take care of the injured and count the dead.

Techie dragged his fingers through Feen's hair, getting tangled in the strands and coming away soaked with blood and dirt.

"Tech?" Isacar asked again and he sighed.

"Can you take Aiden down to med bay? He's got a shot but I don't want to leave . . . leave her."

"Sure." Isacar knew that no matter how heavy Aiden was, he would find a way to leave Techie to his grief. He placed a hand on Techie's shoulder. "She knew you loved her, you know that, right?"

Techie smiled gratefully up at him. "Yeah, I know. But thanks."

"I'll be back," Isacar said desperately, hating the defeated look on Techie's face. "I'll help you carry her back down. I will be back."

Techie patted Isacar's hand. "Good friend."

Isacar nodded hesitantly and leaned down to pick up Aiden, grateful for transgenic strength even as he cursed the man's dead weight against his slight body.

Techie watched as Isacar struggled with Aiden's body, staggering over to the door and hauling him over his bony shoulders before heading down the stairs. Poor Aiden would probably end up with broken ribs and a bashed head, but at least he'd be alive.

Unlike Feen.

Techie knelt down by her side and touched the rapidly cooling skin and hating the blue tinge to her lips; or maybe he was imagining it.

Manticore knew, he wished he was imagining this; imagining her gone.

There was no Feen left here, she was gone; that spark that he loved about her, the parts of her that made her alive, made her bounce and shine and just . . . Feen, they were all gone.

Leaving a shell that was cracked and broken and so damn fragile.

Feen had never been fragile, not ever so this couldn't be Feen. Couldn't be. He had to be dreaming. Please. Please.

The staccato rhythm of gunfire made him look overhead to where the helicopter was in furious battle with several ground-force enemies and Techie knew that he had to get out of here, get back to central command and his responsibilities.

He knelt and picked Feen up, letting her body drape over his arms like delicate silk, her red hair drifting down to brush against his hip, the silken tresses still absurdly soft. Shouldn't they be brittle? Shouldn't everything about her be hard and cold, not lukewarm and soft, supple; like she had just fallen asleep?

He closed his eyes in sheer pain and leaned down to kiss her forehead, a sharp pain searing through his heart.

He sniffed and shook tears out of his eyes as he stared at her body; a body that was suddenly covered in far more blood that it should have been.

Was she still bleeding? That meant that she was alive.

There was a moment, just a nano-second, of hope, of joy, of _belief_ until he looked down at his own chest.

The crack he'd heard hadn't been his heart breaking; the pain hadn't been the organ shattering into a thousand pieces.

He'd been shot.

A laugh bubbled out of his mouth as he fell to his knees, still managing to cradle Feen against the chest that was pumping out thick, red blood.

It kind of figured that Feen had made him hurt more than being shot. Damn it was a good shot too, straight through the chest, fatal wound. He'd have, maybe, seconds.

Precious seconds.

He placed her gently to the ground and tucked her coat around her tighter, wanting her to keep her warm as long as possible, even as his chest erupted in a blinding agony, the pain almost making him blackout.

Techie doubled over, dripping precious life-water onto her. His hands shook and he fell next to her, his hands seeking out hers.

He stared at her closed eyes and smiled sadly.

He was a little slow, but he'd always followed her eventually.

* * *

Awareness swung back to Max in fits and starts; a red haze, a blanket of white sifting behind her eyes and faces peering down at her.

"Max, Max, Max?"

She had no idea that her own name was so damned irritating, especially when she wanted to sleep.

"Max, Maxie?"

She muttered something impolite and tried to catch that elusive slumber again, but the hand currently tapping her cheek and poking at her body make it uncomfortable, if not downright impossible.

"All right, dammit!" she growled and opened her eyes, squinting against the bright sunlight.

She blinked. "Dek?"

Dek breathed out, his hands shaking. "Shit, Max, don't do that to me."

"Wh—?" in a flash it came back, along with a blinding ache in her shoulder. "That son of bitch!"

"Yeah, you're lucky he's a crap shot, Max," Ben said from behind her. "A few inches lower and we'd be crying at your funeral."

"Only the good die young," Max bitched as he ripped a shirt into pieces and started to bandage her shoulder.

There was something swimming around in Max's subconscious—something that was serious.

"Wait- where's White?"

"Son of a bitch got away," Ben muttered. "Turned tail and ran, like a big old rat."

Rat? Max frowned, her brain grasping at threads of thoughts that meandered around.

"_Rats shouldn't be allowed to leave a ship but, in this case, I think the end justifies the means." _

"Rats?" Max swiped at her face, smearing blood across one cheek.

"Hey, Max, how many fingers am I holding up?" Dek looked worriedly at Ben and waved a hand in front of Max's face at her random words.

"Move it or there'll be one less," she muttered and he looked more relieved.

"Maybe we should get you to the infirmary, things are winding down now, should be safe to start seeing to the injured."

Ben glanced behind him. "So much death, at least they're not all ours, we kicked ass!"

"_Did you ever study Earth history? You know the Black Death was caused by rats but didn't wipe out the rats?"_

"Ain't over yet. Our new mission is to seek out those who have been injured," Dek laughed in relief, finishing tucking the bandage into Max's shirt and looking around at the few remaining battling couples.

"_I have new mission now."_

"Maybe we should call some of the others back to help?" Ben suggested. "I hate getting my hands covered with blood."

"_Oh, you didn't think we knew about your mothers and babies plan?"_

"Okay," Dek grinned. "But you get to tell Cece that she's got to clean up."

Ben shuddered.

Max shook her head. There was something she should be putting together here. Something that was essential, if those two idiots above her would stop talking for one second.

"Do you think we should check see if any of the ordinaries were shot? Might bring the wrath of the army down on us if they were?"

Ben considered Dek's words. "Nah, we'd only get in trouble for poisoning their asses. This place is still toxic to humans."

Toxic. Toxic to humans.

The virus, the bio-toxin that the cult had created to rid the world of humans and then modified to kill transgenics was still out there

"_The first trial failed so spectacularly that they had to evacuate the whole city…killing hundreds of ordinaries… They based the virus on the specific gene sequence that Sandeman had uncovered… everyone who didn't have that particular gene sequence would die… they were the ones to poison Terminal City and they did it because of us."_

"_The Black Death was caused by rats but didn't wipe out the rats."_

"_I have a new mission now."_

What use would it have been if they didn't have it on hand as a fail safe?

"_This place is still toxic to humans."_

"_The cult created the virus to threaten humankind and later on to rid the world of us abominations. The Pulse happened before they could finish the virus and when all systems shut down, it escaped."."_

Who better to infect than those who were going out into the world; those who weren't prepared to fight, those who'd head out, unaware that they carried the infection and would join others of their kind with safety in numbers in mind.

"_Time to redress the balance."_

"_Rats shouldn't be allowed to leave a ship… oh you thought we didn't know about your mothers and babies plan?"_

They'd pass on the infection and eradicate the transgenics like the rats who carried the plague—but this time the rats would die too.

"_They were the ones to poison Terminal City and they did it because of us."_

"_And they plan to do it again."_

Max sat up abruptly, her shoulder and leg both screaming in agony. "Skye!"

Dek looked at her oddly. "Nooo, Dek and Ben."

"No f—" She didn't have time to explain. Max tried to get to her feet but was stopped by Dek.

"Hey, now, Max, you aren't in any condition to—" he faltered at the look that crossed her face. It reminded him of her back at Seattle when everyone had turned against her and she was out for blood.

"Okaayy," he hedged and pulled her to her feet. Max's vision swam as she tried to stand on her injured leg.

The world spun and she almost fell back on the floor again.

"Gun," she growled and Dek handed over the Glock he had managed to hold onto.

"Max?"

There would always be a part of Max that Manticore had instilled in her. It was the part that had allowed her to keep on living, to face things that Max didn't think she was capable of. It was the part of her that would drag her up by the throat and make her move, even when all she wanted to do was to give up, to lie down and die. It was the part of her that was primal, the part that wanted survival at all costs.

The part that would do _anything_ to protect herself and the people that she loved.

It was 452.

452 reached deep inside Max and it was her turn to stand up and take over. Max was concerned about the way her leg gushed thick blood, 452 ignored it.

Max felt sharp twinges of pain in her shoulder, 452 felt nothing.

Max worried about Alec, Skye and all her friends.

452 brushed away the panic and the distraction and focussed on the mission.

Find White. Kill White. Destroy the virus.

That was all there was and she would eliminate anything that got in her way.

Dek stumbled back at the blank look that overtook his friends face and frowned as she turned smartly on a broken leg that shouldn't have been able to twist that way.

"Clean up," she ordered over her shoulder. "I'm going after White."

"Wait! Max!" Ben called but it was almost as if she didn't hear him.

* * *

Tara had never minded getting dirty. It was a bit ridiculous to worry about a bit of dirt and grime when you were expected to be up to your elbows in blood; but right now all she wanted was a bath.

She had set up the infirmary with the certain knowledge that she would be seeing death and destruction in her own back yard. She knew that it was possible she would operate on, and possibly lose, friends and family tonight, but she hadn't quite grasped the scale of what she was up against.

Within minutes of the first call of battle she had been inundated with the injured.

Broken arms and legs hadn't even featured in her walking wounded, they were all gun shot wounds or severe lacerations. Tara had thanked Manticore every second for the fact that they were all given some sort of medical training because there was no way she could have dealt with this herself.

She'd sewn up cuts and removed bones; she'd pulled out slug after slug and even reattached an entire arm as well as amputating someone's leg. After the third bullet removal Chance was well versed enough to take on those particular injuries herself and had freed Tara up enough for her to perform the most essential and intricate surgeries.

But the beds were filling up faster than Tara could even see and the wounded just kept coming.

One of the younger X series brought in his friend, a green-scaled transgenic with two flippers, one torn off and hanging by mere bloody tendons. Tara had taken one look at him and known, just known that this was one she couldn't be able to save. His breathing had faded whilst his friend was dragging him over from the edge of the city and she had to look down into the eyes of the child and tell him that his friend was dead.

Her throat choked and her eyes stung even as she pushed the emotions back.

"Sorry, Reynolds, he's already gone."

Reynolds looked up at her, his purple eyes filling with tears. "Okay."

His cool yet sad acceptance broke her heart and she reached down to touch his shoulder in sympathy. "I'm sorry."

"Tara?" Chance's frantic voice called her from one side and Tara hurried over as two men brought in what appeared to be a bag of blood soaked skin.

"It's Kelpy," the soldier said. "He's been sliced."

Tara pulled the rags away and almost retched skin came away with the cloths, making a strong sucking sound as the skin peeled away from the body.

"Kelpy, can you hear me?" she asked, taking his pulse, her gloved hands slick with body fluids.

"Hurts!" he whimpered and promptly passed out. Tara motioned for them to take him over to the back of the room and set up a morphine drip to help him with the pain.

"They keep coming," Chance said, her face drenched with sweat and a smudge of blood over her alabaster cheeks.

"The rear guard is over," a soldier said. "Pix called for them to help Beta West, we're winning."

Tara rubbed her chest as her eyes poured over the hundreds of wounded. "Doesn't feel like it."

"Ain't nowhere near as bad as it could be," the man said brushing a grimy hand over his face. "What do you need?"

"Triage," she said steely-eyed. "We need some system for this. Okay, listen up!" she called and a hush came over the infirmary. "All the walking wounded, those who can stand, I need you to take up positions as nurses. Anyone with any medical expertise at all automatically becomes a doctor. This half of the room in for critical cases only, those with immediate needs. Thos who can wait an hour or two go to this section and those who can't move but aren't in danger of dying today get moved to the next room. Let's get organised."

There was an instant of silence before everyone started to follow her orders and move. A small group of X-series children who had stayed behind to help her out were put on supply and cleaning duty and started to get things moving again.

Tara walked through the infirmary diagnosing patients and directing them to the areas and order in which they'd get treated. She had the power of life and death in her hands and as she made her way across the beds of dying and decimated she felt panic rise in her throat.

"All right, what do we have here?" she questioned, grabbing clean gloves from one of the children.

"Triple gunshot blast to the legs and one to the shoulder," the woman who had brought him in said.

Tara looked him over quickly. "Chance, you get this one."

The dark haired girl nodded and motioned to Roma, one of the impromptu nurses. "Sew this guy up, he's good to go."

Roma dived in with her suture kit and left Chance to follow up.

Tara had moved over to a woman who had her eye gouged out when the doors swung open and Alec ran in, a body over his arms.

"Tara!" he called and she glanced up quickly, passing the patient over to an anomaly she recognised before heading over to Alec who was gritting his teeth.

"Alec…shit, Zan?" Her hands ran over the blond hair draped over Alec's arm.

"Crushed under a fallen helicopter."

Tara's jaw dropped. "What the hell are you guys doing out there?"

"Playing tea parties! What do you think?" Alec swore and Tara gestured for someone to take Zan.

Alec turned to go just as soon as the body was taken away from him but Tara grabbed his arm.

"Where the hell are you going?"

"Max is—" he begun but she cut him off, her eyes intent.

"I need help, Alec. We are way understaffed and I need everyone I can to help me."

"Max is in trouble." He said desperately.

Tara spread out her arms to show the hospital. "Who isn't?"

Alec backed away, his eyes wide and fraught. "I'll do a radio call for help, but I have to go."

"Alec—"

"Sorry!" he turned and ran as fast as he could.

Tara watched him go with her heart in her throat and turned, walking past two rows of men she knew wouldn't last very long, and opened the supply closet, shutting the door behind her and leaning her head against the comforting wooden wall.

Her shoulder shook with silent tears as she stifled the feeling that she was in way over her head. A moment's weakness was all she wanted, to wish that she didn't have to do this, to wish that she wasn't here, but somewhere else, wrapped up with Carrot and not covered in blood and death.

But she was a doctor, _the_ doctor and she couldn't afford this weakness.

She took a deep breath, pulling herself back together and walked back out into the room.

It was bravest thing that she had ever done.

* * *

Skye pushed herself back further into the shadows of the dark warrens underneath Terminal City and listened intently to the headset.

She could hear the sounds of battle, the ebb and flow of victory and defeat and the screams of the dying.

Gem and Cece had taken the younger children deeper into the underground bunkers of Terminal City, once built as a nuclear fallout evacuation route. The tunnels had caved in long ago and it had been one of the many jobs that Alec had instigated that the tunnels be cleared so that the 'mothers and babies' could escape.

Affixed to the walls were old fashioned torches; the kind found in gothic horror tales, and Max had laughed as Alec explained that they were not only atmospheric, but essential to any escape plan. The reality was that they couldn't afford to have electricity wired down here and so fire was their next best bet.

The torches cast demonic shadows; flickering demons who danced against the stone walls and gave their flight an eerie, almost sepulchral tone.

Right now they were holding their positions deep in the tunnels, not wanting to run away in case they won and not wanting to be too close to the action in case they didn't.

Icarus had been of great help in persuading the young teens to help and they had more hands to aid than they'd originally assumed, something that was coming in handy when the numbers tripled as more came out of the woodwork. Skye had never seen so many children in her life and wondered, not for the first time, exactly what Manticore had been up to.

She'd heard the order for Drew to join Alec and her hands had clenched as she'd heard the explosions on the aerial front. Knowing that Flex was in Alec's group where they seemed to be hit the hardest made her snap at Cece in frustration and anger and had sent the transgenic off to work with the other expectant mothers.

When Nyx had heard the explosions of the helicopters and the silence from Aiden's team, her jaw had clenched and her eyes had gone hard and cold. Skye grabbed hold of her hand and held her surrogate daughter in fellow feeling as they listened to the news praying for the safe return of the ones they loved.

Then came an explosion that rocked the caverns, and dust and rocks rained down on the fleeing women.

"These caves aren't safe," Nyx announced and started to herd them all to safety, out of the tunnels and into the outside of Terminal City. Skye was so glad that she had someone upon whom she could rely to take care of the front whilst she brought up the rear guard. She had ordered little Zeph to take point with his older sister and that left her and Galen in the back to ensure that they weren't being followed.

Dirt and dust particles caked the air and she wiped smudges of muck away from the boy's cheeks even as he looked up at her with trusting eyes.

"When all this is done, me and you need a bath," she sighed and Galen smiled at her, leaning over to plant a little kiss on her nose, his face lit by the dancing flames of a nearby torch.

Skye smiled at him and hefted him higher onto her hip.

She suddenly heard something coming from the tunnel they'd just left. It was a scrabbling noise, like a large rat or animal. Skye let Galen go and pushed him behind her.

"Stay down," she whispered and Galen nodded, melting back into the shadows like a ghost. It took Skye aback for a second to see him vanish and then her attention was all on what was coming at them from the rear.

She held her gun tight in her grip and edged forwards, allowing her feline eyesight to enhance the dark space.

She scanned the walls and only heard the drips of the damp, running down the stone like Japanese water torture.

A rush of wind made the nearby torch flicker and die down and the light fled. The blackness was disorientating and she bit her lip, wondering whether to march on in fearlessly or hang back and wait for them to come to her.

She edged forward, straining her sense to hear anything, to feel anything.

Then, out of the darkness, something attacked.

Skye didn't even have time to get a shot off before the gun was knocked from her hands to land with a metallic clatter to the floor.

A body rammed into hers and she fell backwards, her legs coming up automatically to deal a harsh blow to whatever it was that had attacked.

A sharp gasp attested to its human nature and as she sprang up her eyes adjusted and she growled.

"You!"

* * *

452 raced down the corridor as fast as her leg would allow her, she'd taken precious seconds to tighten the makeshift bandage Dek had made for both her shoulder and her leg. It would do Skye no good if she died from blood loss.

But even 452 couldn't hide from the pain totally. Her eyes rolled back as she slammed into something in the black tunnels and her vision swam, the torches duplicating in her mind until she was sure there was a swath of them in her path, obstructing her from her goal.

Bracing her hand against the wall she pushed herself away, pushed the pain away, dragged the fear down and stamped on it. She didn't have time for this. She had to get to Skye, had to find White—had to end this.

Once and for all.

* * *

White smirked at Skye, the blood caking his face making him look feral and deadly. "Look what was made with the cat's leftovers."

He held a gun in his hands and Skye eyed it carefully.

"As opposed to last night's dinner?" she spat back. "Hate to tell you this, Ames White, but you're no picture either. Obviously attractiveness was bred out of you, along with a sense of humanity and, oh yeah, sense of humour."

"Oh, I have a sense of humour, bitch," he snarled as they circled one another, his shaking the gun at her. "And a sense of irony that's hard to ignore. I find this situation here, hugely funny."

"You can't laugh off your own death!" Skye surged forwards and kicked the gun out of his own grasp. It flew into the air and she dove to attack.

The fight was brutal and grunts and gasps echoed in the small cavern as they traded blows, fists hammering into skin as the sound of flesh on flesh reverberated, the crack of a backhanded slap, the thud of a body hitting dirt and the snap of a bone breaking.

The flickering torch flames made the fight a shadow dance on the wall, their two shadows intertwining and drifting into one another until you couldn't tell where one began and the other finished, just endless undulating forms of light and dark, fighting and dancing for their lives.

Skye stumbled back to swipe blood from her split lip as she glared at him, wanting to keep him where he was so that her friends, her family could escape. She would stall him for eternity here in this little alcove if she had to.

White smiled, almost charmingly and reached into his jacket, for a moment Skye's heart stopped as she wondered if he had a gun there and she dropped to the floor, ready to the duck and roll any bullets that flew her way.

But he pulled out a vial and held it in his hands, the lights turning the dark blue liquid into the night's sky, thick and heavy with promise.

"Know what this is?"

"Time for your medication?" she guessed and shuffled back, scanning the ground for their discarded weapons.

"No," he smiled. "Death."

"Funny," Skye spotted one of the guns about three feet away and started to edge back. "I always thought death was a tall guy in black, anorexic looking."

White twirled the vial in his fingers, watching her slide back in amusement. "You animals, think you're so clever. What you don't realise is that you're all dead. My people have won and you are the last front. Even if you kill me now, my army has decimated yours. Terminal City is home to the cult. You're all dead . . . or prisoners."

Skye froze. "You're lying."

"Am I?"

They stopped for an eternal moment, staring at each other like they could read the truth in each other's eyes.

Then White moved, diving for the gun before Skye could twist, he kicked her in the face and grabbed the weapon, rolling in mid-air to point it at her.

He smirked. "Gullible, too."

Skye lay on the floor, her chest heaving as she stared down the barrel of the gun. The other was nowhere in sight and even if it had been she wouldn't have been able to reach it in time.

Steve had died from a bullet wound, how ironic that she would die from the same, almost a year apart.

Maybe there was more to that twin bond than she ever thought.

White sneered down at her. "Which tunnel did the rats scurry down?"

"Fuck you." She wouldn't plead for her life and she wouldn't betray her family. She was Skye; the biggest bitch in Manticore history. She pleaded for no one.

"Useless vermin." He raised the gun.

Out of the corner of her eye Skye saw, as if in slow motion, Max hurtle down the dark corridor, dragging her leg, just a touch too slow.

Her gaze flicked back to White who grinned and squeezed the trigger.

A shot rang out in the cold cavern.

Skye closed her eyes automatically, waiting for the blast of pain, waiting for the hot metal to enter into her and end her life.

Nothing.

She looked up.

His eyes were wide and white, an expression of disbelief on his face as he looked down, down past the dark clothes to the blood splatter on his hands, covering the barrel of the gun.

Blood; thick, red, hot and his.

A gurgle escaped from his lips as Ames White stared down into the sickened face of Skye.

The gun slipped from his fingers and he fell to his knees in front of her, blood pouring from his mouth like a torrent of speech.

Her gaze slid to over his shoulder and to another gun barrel, another set of hands, another cold expression.

Galen lowered his hands and looked up at her with a fierce face, chocolate brown eyes piercing.

"That's my mother," he said clearly and dropped the gun.

The air rushed out of Skye in a burst, a half-sob, as White choked and dropped to lie at her feet.

Skye kicked out at him and he rolled over, away from her.

Galen edged forward and placed his arms around Skye's neck. "Not hurt," he decided and kissed her nose. "Game over now?"

Game? _Game?_

_Oh, God._

Skye nodded frantically, pulling him into her arms and staring at an equally horrified Max.

She stroked his back. "Yeah, Galen. Game's over."

With those words 452 let go and Max slumped to the floor, her legs giving way heart pumping furiously. She dimly heard Alec call her name from behind her and his footsteps race along the corridor, looking to take care of her.

"Max?" he yelled as he saw her on the floor. "God, Max, I heard … are you okay?"

Max nodded as Alec knelt on the floor and wrapped his arms around her. He was there, the battle was over and they'd won.

They'd actually won.

As the lights flickered on the macabre tableau no one noticed a small glass vial roll out of an outstretched hand, the blue liquid bubbling slightly as it rolled over and over, to land in a small pile of dust.

Forgotten.

* * *

Please please review. Anyone who has enjoyed the series at all, even if you've never reviewed at all. Please just let me know if there are any loose ends, things you didnt understand thinsg you'd like to see etc...

Epilogue and notes to follow next week.


	28. 22 Epilogue

**TISSUE WARNING.

* * *

**

Epilogue-

"This was the scene from earlier today as hundreds of supporters turned up at the gates of Terminal City in tribute to the apparent heroism shown by a genetically modified race of super-humans called transgenics. Hundreds of people are turning up by the hour to honour those inside those broken city gates. Our on scene reporter Neavanroy Ishtari has the story. We go live to him in central Seattle."

"Thank you, Zsu. Looking at this peaceful scene, no one would suspect that just yesterday this space in front of the toxic city was a battleground. Right where I'm standing, the phenomenon that has been scaring our city for months—genetically modified humans called transgenics—fought viciously with another faction called the Cultists in an epic battle for our freedom. Science fiction? Not at all. Yes, you heard me right. Evidence has come to light that within our own government there have been secret factions, the self-proclaimed Cultists, who have been trying to take over the human race by breeding what they call the perfect human.

"One of these men, a man of astounding vision, created a race of genetically modified humans to protect us from this heinous agenda. Things came to a head in the early hours of the morning yesterday when the two sides fought brutally for our survival. Here with me now is a man who saw it all. Sir, who are you and can you tell me what you saw?"

"Name's Regan, Regan Ronald, like the president. God save America. Anyway, we were out here and heard these army tanks coming up from behind. At first, we thought that finally the government was coming to take care of the freak problem, then they started shooting at us!"

"The transgenics?"

"No, the army!"

"You're telling me that the army shot at civilians."

"Damn spanky they did! They knew we were human too, and just shot us like we were nothing. It's a sad day, my friend, when the American government does that. A sad day. Then they tried to break down the walls to get into the city. They had explosives and didn't even care to clear the area. When the fighting broke out, we tried to move back but got pushed forwards. Then the walls came down and the fighting came out here and the army—cultists—tried to use **us** as shields but the fr—transgenics protected us."

"You're saying the transgenics saved you?"

"Damn right."

"So, they're not monsters?"

"No more than you or me, I haveta tell ya, those cultists? They're the monsters. I'm here again today to show my respect."

"Thank you, sir."

"No problem, glad to be of service."

"As you heard, Zsu, the transgenics actively protected humans from cultist assault, some even laying down their lives for the cause."

"Now, Nev, yesterday we heard that the transgenics were a menace. What would you say is the general feeling there today?"

"As you can see behind me, Zsu, we have hundreds of supporters who have come out of the woodwork and made their way to Terminal City. Now bear in mind that this is a toxic area, and still we have mothers and grandmothers and young children who are laying flowers at the gates in thanks to those within."

"Any word on how the transgenics are taking this shift in perception?"

"The transgenics have sealed themselves inside for now, but we are expecting statements any moment and the leaders of what _they_ call 'Freak Nation' have entered into correspondence with key governmental officials and other law-abiding services. I'm given to understand that peace talks are underway."

"What would you say the mood is now, Nev?"

"It's hard to say, Zsu. Although the transgenics have some support for their actions, there is still a lot of mistrust and fear apparent in some of the faces around us. There is a tentative hopefulness, but it's too early to tell whether the actions of the transgenics have erased all hatred for them. The best I can do, Zsu, is to say wait and see. The whole city is dangling on a precipice and it could go either way."

"Thank you, Nev. Well, there you have it. An abrupt change of heart in our own city as some publicly support transgenics and hail them as heroes whilst others remain skeptical. Support our poll and tell us what you think: Transgenics; mutant menace or peaceful protectors? The full story of yesterday's proceedings can be found on our web-page, or tune in at six for the update.

"In related news, in a surprising turn of events several key members of Congress have resigned and disappeared, ever since the broadcast by cyber-journalist Eyes-Only which named them as leading members of the Cult. Roy Markee has the scoop."

"Pah!" barked Mole "Scoop, my ass!"

"I'd rather not," Alec said absently as he rifled through some papers on his desk. "Could be messy."

"Pretty boy afraid of getting his hands dirty?"

Alec blinked. "You do it with your hands? Were you not toilet trained?"

Mole spluttered and Alec smirked, a cheeky grin lighting up his features.

He glanced over to where Max sat in front of a computer screen, half-glaring, half-smirking herself.

He edged closer, listening.

"—wasn't my fault."

"Course not, sir," Max said soothingly but with a faint trace of mockery. "You were working alongside a chief member of a cult who wanted to eradicate us all and you were completely unaware. One might even say ignorant."

Lydecker glowered over the monitor. "452—"

"Max," she corrected, steel in her voice.

"Max. I had my suspicions over Ames White but nothing concrete. When I had intel I sent Bill to inform you."

"You kidnapped his family in a bid to blackmail me into helping you regain your glory days. You aren't gonna fool me into thinking you've gone altruistic, sir." She paused. "You have given then back, right?"

"Of course!" He sounded almost affronted.

Max grinned. "He wouldn't give you the codes until you had, had he?"

Lydecker cleared his throat and Max laughed out loud.

"Go, Bill!"

"The fact is, Max, that you were all bred for one purpose. Born to fulfil that purpose. You're soldiers. You weren't created to lead normal lives and sooner or later you're going to need to accept that."

"Maybe," Max sobered. "But it'll be our choice. I'm not saying that there won't be some who'll want to join you. I'll put the word out; some will wanna do what they've always done. But not me, not yet."

Lydecker was silent for a long moment. "That's not a 'no', soldier."

"It's not a 'yes' either, Colonel."

They both eyed each other, sizing each other up. "The offer stands."

"Thanks, but I think we'll try to work it out ourselves for a while."

Lydecker frowned.

"Tell me when you're ready to come home."

Max smiled. "I already am."

Lydecker nodded and leaned forward. "You were the best of the best, all right, Max. You did good, soldier."

Max swallowed, pushing down the emotion, emotion that she wasn't going to show to him, no matter how good it felt to be recognised by her colonel. "Sir!"

She switched off the screen and scrubbed her face. "Damn!"

Alec came up behind her and rubbed her shoulders. "You all right?"

"I'm always all right." She grinned up at him.

"I'll say."

He ducked down to plant a kiss on her lips, feeling her curl herself into it.

"Hey," Pix's voice cut in. "Do ya mind?"

"Not at all," Alec said without looking away from Max's deep eyes.

Pix rolled his eyes and wheeled himself away from the love-struck couple.

"'nough to make you sick," he muttered under his breath wishing his own kissing partner was around. Unfortunately, she had been called away urgently about five minutes ago in a hushed conversation with Carrot.

Pix wasn't sure he liked that and was determined to get to the bottom of it all, just as soon as he had something to eat.

He wheeled himself over to the vending machine that some very bright spark had delivered into the control room to help those hyperactive transgenics who needed a sugar fix. The fizzy drinks had been forcibly removed from the machine by Dix who refused to allow the liquid near his precious equipment. He was backed up by Isacar who said that Techie would have been horrified at the idea.

Pix pushed away a pang at the thought of his friend who they would be burying tomorrow, along with Feen and other casualties.

After the echoes of battle had fallen there had been a recall of all transgenics and, once the mother and baby unit returned, it had been a case of all hands on deck for the clean-up effort.

It had taken that many hands to transport the wounded to the infirmary.

Those who had even the slightest modicum of training had been put to use in the infirmary to allow those who had been on duty all night some well deserved rest.

Dek, Chance, B.J., Jace and Syl had been up to their elbows in blood all afternoon.

Tara was being hailed as some kind of hero for her actions, although it had taken a real feat of heroism for Carrot to drag her to bed late last night after she almost collapsed from exhaustion. Even then, she had been up early to return to her patients.

Lucky patients, who had the opportunity to live, unlike so many others.

Corpses lined the park on the east side of Terminal City, ready to be identified and honoured.

They had been hit hard in the death stakes and many faces were missing though not as many as they had initially feared when they saw the bodies strewn over the streets. The Cult had suffered just as many casualties, if not more.

Of those that Pix knew by name only Techie, Feen, Ash, Kelpy and a very few others had perished, although each one was like a knife wound.

Morbidly, he was glad that it had been so few; he couldn't have taken much more.

It was testament to the efficiency of the transgenics and the preparation of the Special Operations and Operatives team that Terminal City was still running; and running almost back to 'normal' only hours after being the scene of a bloodbath.

Didn't mean that the kitchens were up and running yet, though. They were going to be living out of the vending machines (and possibly very brave take-out shops who would deliver to Terminal City) for a while.

Pix glared as his own path to nourishment and nutrition, in the form of a calorie laden choc-treat, was barred by the laughing forms of Ben, Zane and Biggs.

Pix glared at them, menace and hunger in his gaze. "Move."

The three men hardly paused in their laughter and Pix wanted to pout.

"Hey, hungry handicapped man here."

"You're not handi-capped," Zane soothed. "You're handi-capable!"

Ben burst out laughing.

"Watch it, floppy," Pix groused. "You'll muss your hair."

"This from the man who invoked fear into the Trainers," Biggs shook his head, still on a high from his friendly interaction.

Pix brightened. "Good point!" He reached into his pocket and pulled out a battered, singed, blood-spattered black book.

It was fun to see how the colour drained from Biggs' face and Pix gave a malicious grin as Biggs paled.

"I'm gone."

Biggs turned on his heel and raced away, leaving Ben and Zane bemused at the interaction.

Ben frowned. "What's that? A scary book?"

Pix smiled as he licked a well chewed pencil and added their names to the back page.

It wasn't a nice smile.

"You'll learn to fear the book." He vowed and placed it safely in his pocket, patting it for comfort.

They would learn to fear the book.

* * *

Isacar stared at them for a while, and then turned back to the table, staring at the box that he had discovered hidden under Techie's desk.

Inside were twisted models made with wire, soldered with odds and ends from the toolbox.

Works of art.

Perfect works of art that made Isacar want to howl like a baby. He bit down hard on his lip, hating every person in this room that was alive and loving it whilst Techie lay on the edge of the field of the dead, wasting away.

He reached into the box and pulled out a red wired sculpture that looked just like waves of fire in a wind. Orange and crimson cables were twisted with bronze metal and copper wiring. It was complicated, dark and vibrant.

He turned it over.

Etched on the bottom was one word: Feen.

Isacar bowed his head so no one could see the tears.

* * *

Luke adjusted his bandaged arm and tried not to focus through the gauze that covered his injured eye.

"Hey!" snapped Sigma. "What did Dek say about straining that eye?"

"Uh, don't?" Luke offered tentatively, his bumpy face embarrassed at her care and volume.

"You want to wear a monocle like Dix?" Sigma continued. "You'll really look like twins then!"

Luke pouted and looked away which meant he missed the amused look Mole shot the anomaly.

He did, however, catch the snort of derision as Mole chewed on his cigar.

"Huh, catch me getting told off by a skirt," he growled. "Pussy-whipped."

"And you ain't ever been?" Jondy said from somewhere behind him.

Mole hadn't seen her, and jumped. She grinned. "Poor Mole, all jealous, huh?"

"Nothing to be jealous over, girlie," he insisted. "I got the goods."

"You ain't got jack!" she trilled, sitting on the edge of his desk and pushing his gun away with one long booted foot.

Mole's eyes travelled up the length of her leg, clad in fishnet stockings and tight mini-skirt.

He swallowed around his cigar. "You ain't seen nothing yet."

Jondy gave a slow seductive smile and reached over, plucking the cigar from between his lips and planting it between her own. "Prove it, sugar."

Luke laughed out loud at the pole-axed expression on Mole's face.

He was about to call attention to it when Carrot burst into the room.

All eyes turned to him and more hands went to their side-arms, still running high on the adrenaline from the battle.

Carrot scanned the room and then seemingly gave up trying to find the ones he wanted and just bellowed. "Cece's having the baby—now!"

Harley, sitting with Meri and trying to organize work rotas with Ganko, suddenly blanched. "Oh, hell."

"Not yet!" Meri squealed, delightedly. "Baby first! Go on, Harl."

"No, no, no," Harley moaned but lurched to his feet and staggered to the door, followed by half the command staff.

* * *

The infirmary was still crowded out with bodies in various stages of healing, but there was an air of satisfaction and calming as the place started to resemble more a hospital and less of a battlefield.

Harley and his entourage walked in en masse and Dek looked up from his patient with a tired but devilish grin.

"You know that Cece can be very creative in her threats?" He licked his lips and threaded a needle through an unconscious Zan's knee. "I think that maybe Alec, Harley and Pix should keep away from her."

Alec held his hands up. "I didn't touch her!"

Max poked him anyway and pushed her way through the throng to get to Dek. She placed one hand on his shoulder and peered over at his work.

"Nice small stitches," she complimented.

"Thanks," Dek craned his neck to plant a kiss on her lips, eliciting a glare from Alec and a grin from Ben. "Lucky Zan here, had Alec been a few seconds late he would have been shish-ka-trannie."

"Nice imagery," Sunny said as she walked over, wiping her stained hands on a cloth. "Beds two and three are now empty and clean, ready for re-issue."

"Thanks," Dek smiled at her. "There are two transgenics just come out of theatre; can you get them prepped and in bed?"

"I object to that!" Biggs pouted. "Only I'm getting her into bed."

"I so didn't need to hear that!" Chance moaned as she walked into the conversation and over to a frantic Harley, being held by Flex to stop him from bolting. "Cece's almost through. Fast pregnancy, you'll be glad to hear."

He opened his mouth to thank her only to be cut off by a scream from the adjoining room. His eyes opened wide and he dragged himself to the room almost knocking Flex over in his haste to get in there.

The door closed but they could hear Cece's response to his appearance.

Skye planted her hands over Galen's ears. "You don't need to know words like that," she said decidedly.

Galen grinned up at her. He hadn't said anything else but she didn't want to take any chances that his next words would be four letter ones.

"How long's this kinda thing take?" Biggs asked sliding into one of the chairs in the waiting room.

"Some hours, some less," Chance shrugged. "Hopefully less. Tara says this one is super fast."

"I can't imagine anything wanting to stay in Cece long." Biggs covered his head as he was slapped by at least three of his friends despite the hidden smiles.

Sunny rolled her eyes. "Remind me why I love you?"

"Manticore knows," Biggs replied, rubbing his sore head.

"Anyone care to bet on whether it's a girl or a boy?" Pix offered.

"As long as it's healthy, I don't think she'll care," Max said listening to the screams coming through the door.

"Although, knowing Cece's fondness for sitting on her children," Alec grinned, "maybe we should hope it's a hardy little guy."

"Bouncable," Biggs agreed, covering his head again, just in case.

There was a long drawn out scream from the room behind them.

"Deaf," Sunny muttered rubbing her own ear.

"Speaking of deaf," Flex said suddenly, sitting up. "Was that Nyx I just heard laughing?"

"Uh, um," Skye floundered, looking to Dek for help. He just grinned.

"Oh, yeah that's _little _Nyxie."

"Is she injured?" Flex looked suddenly worried, getting to his feet.

"Nope she's visiting." Dek laced the word with enough innuendo to turn Flex's face green.

"Visiting?"

"Visiting."

"Visiting who?"

"Whom," Dek corrected.

Flex's eyes flashed. "Visiting whom?"

"Aiden."

Max shook her head at Dek as Flex raced towards the voice. "I swear, Dek, you're a demon in disguise."

"But what a disguise!" He winked at her and she laughed.

"Shouldn't one of us save Aiden?" Jace asked tentatively.

They all looked at each other.

"Nah."

* * *

"Oh no you don't!" Nyx smiled as she handed the sandwich to Aiden. "You'll eat because you owe me."

"Says who?" he argued, ignoring the twinges of pain all through his back and legs.

"I remember a promise not to leave me or get injured," Nyx reminded him. "Fractured bones, cracked lumbar, disconnected collar bones, strained muscles, internal bleeding, haemorrhage. When you break a promise you don't so it half-assed."

"Which is a shame," Flex said from the doorway. "Although I appreciate that there is less of you to break."

Aiden paled. "I'm very, very, very, very badly injured. It would be unsporting to attack me now."

"And yet, still oddly satisfying." Flex turned away to touch the intravenous drip, not allowing Aiden to see the amused look on his face.

Nyx angled herself to stand in front of her boyfriend and folded her arms.

"Flex! I won't appreciate him broken."

"Why?" Flex mirrored her stance. "You have plans for his whole self, Nyxie?"

Nyx allowed a small smile to curve around her lips and Flex's heart fell. He hadn't seen her that happy before. Not happy enough to smile from the heart and mean it.

He couldn't deny her that. Couldn't deny her anything.

Nyx saw his surrender in his eyes and stepped closer biting her lip and offering her arms in a hug.

Flex enfolded her in his embrace and kissed the top of her silky soft hair. He had never given any thought to being a father and found that it had crept up on him far faster than he would have liked. But he wouldn't change anything and held her tighter as he inhaled, breathing in her scent.

He glared at Aiden over the top of her head. "If you hurt my little girl I will eviscerate you and then I will really make you pay."

Aiden gulped and nodded, somehow feeling younger than Flex even though they were the same age chronologically. "Yeah."

Flex sighed. "Hope you don't expect me to welcome you to the family, boy."

"Course not," Aiden waited a beat. "Dad."

"Shut up." Flex scowled and released Nyx who beamed at him.

"Thank you."

"Yeah, yeah," Flex muttered.

Dek poked his head in the doorway. "Oh good, you're still alive. I figured Flex would have had your head after he found out what you've been doing with Nyx and how I found you last night."

Flex saw red. "Last night? Last night? Where were you last night? Doing what? Aiden?"

"Injured," Aiden pointed out frantically. "Badly injured. Got up to nothing! Nothing."

"Huh." Dek grinned, leaning against the doorway. "Is that what they're calling it now?"

Aiden stared at his 'best friend.' "I want you dead."

"The cultists tried, failed." Dek replied enjoying being able to torment his friend. Seeing Aiden brought into the infirmary all bloodied and broken was going to haunt him forever. "I'm just that good."

"I won't fail," Aiden warned. "In fact I—"

But what he was going to do was lost as Chance grabbed Dek's collar. "It's here!"

"What, what, what?" Dek demanded. "Cult? Lydecker? What?"

"The baby, dumbass!" Max rolled her eyes. "Cece's dropped it."

"Figures!"

"I meant she's actually had it," Max amended with a laugh.

Dek, Flex and Nyx crowded back into the waiting room watching the doorway with eagle eyes.

It opened slightly and Harley came out, pale and shaky.

"Well?"

"What is it?"

"Is it okay?"

"Is she okay?"

"Are they healthy?"

"Did she really threaten to castrate you?"

It was Nyx who asked the most pertinent question. "You look awful, are you going to throw up?"

Harley slumped into the nearest chair and wiped his brow. "I'm just gonna pass out now, okay?"

"Nope," Chance grabbed him by the shirt and hauled him back. "Back in there, daddy."

"Daddy?" Something odd happened to his face. "I'm a dad."

Flex went over and slapped his back. "Welcome to the family."

Aiden, being held up by Nyx pouted. "How come he gets a welcome to the family?"

"Because Harley isn't screwing his daughter?" Dek offered and, to everyone's relief, Max slapped him upside the head.

Dek rubbed his head and ignored the preening Alec.

Tara appeared at the doorway, wiping her hands. "Okay, you can go in there now."

Seventeen people, plus one wheelchair, really shouldn't be able to fit into one room but they all managed it, crowding around the bed where a tired, strained looking Cece sat holding a bundle of cloth.

"Hey," Max said softly as she pushed Pix's chair in. "How do you feel?"

"Like shit," Cece replied honestly. "You try straining something the size of a—"

"Men present!" Biggs protested.

"Where?" Sunny retorted with a soft smile for her beloved.

"But it's worth it." Cece looked down at the baby in her arms. "So worth it. Look at this, he's tiny."

"Gem started labour about five minutes ago," Tara sighed. "Seems the trauma induced several women to start pangs. First in a long line of Transgenic babies."

"Joshua will be thrilled," Alec laughed.

Harley sat on the edge of the bed and wrapped his arms around mother and baby. "It's a boy."

Nyx peered curiously into the bundle. "Fingers? Toes?"

"Yup."

"How many?" Dek asked dryly.

Cece glared at him. "Enough. He's perfect."

"Yeah," Chance smiled. "He is, isn't he?"

Cece swallowed and looked over at Skye. "I'd like . . . I want . . . can I call him Steve? Is . . . is that okay?"

Skye blinked, her mouth open and heart touched. "Y—yeah, that's okay. That's nice."

She hugged Galen tighter to her and Flex pressed his hand to her back in comfort.

Carrot pulled Tara away from her equipment and tucked her into his arms for a hug.

She stiffened for a moment and then sagged against him. "I'm tired," she muttered.

"Should have slept in," he said.

"And miss this?" Tara turned in his arms to stare at Cece and baby Steve. "It's a miracle."

"Yeah. You know," his voice was slow and steady. "I'd quite like a little miracle of our own."

Tara's eyes were wide as she looked up at him.

He kissed the top of her nose. "Just something to think about."

Alec looked around at his family. Nyx and Aiden standing supported by the wall. Flex, Skye and Galen looking so very human by the bed. Carrot holding an exhausted Tara whilst Chance murmured at her to take a break, Pix watching her out of the corner of his eye.

Sunny and Biggs holding hands as they looked at a very cosy Cece, Steve Junior and Harley and Dek propping up the wall with Ben and Jace standing around the fringes. And, best of all, Max in his own arms. He kissed her head suddenly feeling quite happy.

Dek moved away from the wall suddenly. "Where's Drew?"

"On the roof," Chance said. "She stopped by earlier to see Zan and Joshua asked her for some help. Not sure what they're doing up there."

"Maybe they're flashing for the cameras?" Aiden joked. "Joshua pulling a moonie at KYT TV."

There were wrinkled noses all around at that but before they could say anything there was a buzzing in the room and everyone turned to look at Max.

"What?"

Tara looked pointedly at the cell phone at her waist. "You do know that there's a reason why those are supposed to be switched off in a hospital?"

Max smiled sheepishly and answered the call. "Max." She nodded, then remembered that the person on the other end of the phone couldn't see her. "Yeah, she's right here, why?"

Max glanced up as all eyes turned to her.

"Sure, patch it through." She glanced across the room. "Hey, Skye. Apparently there's an incoming call for you."

Skye blinked. "For me?"

Max threw her the phone and Skye held it like it was a grenade.

"Hey?"

"Uh, Skye?"

"What is it, Luke?"

Flex shifted at her back and offered to take Galen so that she could have both hands free. Ignoring the stares from everyone else she shook her head and pulled her little boy in closer.

"I just got a wave from some outsider. I woulda passed it but they asked for you by name. Wanna accept the call?"

Skye shrugged. "Sure."

"Okay, patching it through."

There was a crackle of static and a burst of something high pitched that had all the sensitive ears in the room wincing in pain.

Then there was a sort of suspenseful silence and Skye bit her lip. "Hello?"

"Skye? Hey, girl, is that you?"

Skye couldn't believe it. "Coco?"

"Hey, there. You not dead?"

"Not unless Max's tariff covers the afterlife. Where the hell have you been?" Her shock was mirrored by the other faces in the room, all of whom had expressions of mingled happiness and surprise.

"Oh, you wouldn't believe me if I told you," Coco said, her voice warm. "I saw the news; is everyone okay?"

Skye licked her lower lip, looking around at her family. "Uh, not everyone . . . some didn't. No."

Coco was silent too, for a long moment. "I'm sorry I wasn't there."

"Where are you?"

"Shopping."

Skye sputtered out laughing and she could hear Coco bristle on the other end of the line.

"You're shopping as in shopping, shopping?"

"You think that's funny?" Coco took a breath. "I'm shopping with my mother-in-law to be for a wedding dress." A pause. "Stop laughing. Seriously. Stop. Skye!"

Flex took the phone out of Skye's hand as she doubled up, gasping for breath through her laughter.

"Uh, Co, what did you do to Skye?"

"Nothing," Coco muttered.

Skye waved and grabbed the phone back. "Damn, Coco! Are you serious?"

"Yeah."

"What, what?" Cece waved her hands. "C'mon, is she okay?"

"She's getting married!" Skye enthused and there was a chorus of jaws dropping.

"Way to go, Coco!" Carrot yelled and Skye heard her chuckle down the line.

"Congratulations. Jason?"

"Uh huh. Anyway Madeline just asked me for my wedding list. Bridesmaids, guests, who the hell is gonna give me away?"

Skye bit down on her lip, hard. "Uh, guys, who wants to give Coco away?"

"Ooh, can I?" Dek waved a hand in the air. "To anyone in particular or just in general?"

Alec smacked him. "Is she gonna come back and see us first?"

Skye nodded. "Are you gonna come back? Things are a little different."

"How different?"

"Well, Cece's just had a little boy, I have five children, Aiden's dating a teenager, Pix is in a wheelchair and Max hasn't hit Alec for at least three weeks."

Silence.

"Who are you people?" There was a muffled shout. "Forget it; I'll be there at the weekend. Cece a mom? That I gotta see. I'll bring Jason to Transgenic Central. See if he sinks or swims."

Skye smiled. "We stopped water torture but sure, see you then."

"Yeah, I have to go look at ruffles. Ruffles!"

Skye laughed. "Remember, smile long, smile proud and when that fails remember that you can kill people with your little finger." She threw the phone back to Max and hugged Galen. "Coco!"

Max tucked the cell back into her pocket and leaned into Alec. "Kinda cool, a'iight."

The door opened and Icarus peered in.

"Hi!" she trilled. "Uh, Joshua wants everyone to come up to the roof who can make it. He's got some big surprise planned."

Max nodded. "Seems to be the day for it."

Cece made a move and Harley put a hand in front of her. "And where do you think you're going?"

Cece glared. "If you think for one minute that I'm staying here when Joshua has something planned then we have a real problem."

Dek crept out of the infirmary with a grin. "We all know who's gonna be wearing the pants in that family."

"Talking of wearing the pants," Alec grinned. "Where's Drew?"

* * *

Drew turned up the collar on her coat to ward against the chilly Seattle air. Her hands were tucked into her pockets and she glared at the dirty city as she waited for her family to come up from visiting Cece.

Joshua was being helped with his little surprise by a number of transgenics and they were all laughing and joking together.

Drew felt very out of it all.

Somehow she didn't feel in a celebratory mood.

She could still taste the blood in her mouth from yesterday, she could still feel the thrum of battle through her veins; could feel the rage and the madness simmering just beneath her skin waiting, just waiting.

She wasn't particularly normal at the best of times and, right now, she felt like an animal. Like she had some disease that made her want to attack; to bite; to fight. To kill.

Drew clenched her fists and fought against tears of helplessness. How could she ever face her family who had tried so hard to get away from Manticore when all she wanted was to be under their drugs to stamp down this feeling of being out of control?

Was this how Ben felt before he went crazy? Was she going to start hunting people?

Was she a danger to her family?

"No, you're not."

She stiffened. In her introspection, she hadn't even heard Zack coming up behind her.

She lifted her chin denying herself the tears. She may be a freak but she would never let them see her cry.

Zack stood next to her on the roof staring over the parapet towards the ground.

"Maxie always loved heights but I could never see the appeal. I'd prefer to keep my feet on the ground no matter what DNA they pumped into my body."

Drew was silent.

Zack rocked back on his heels. "I've never been very good at inspirational speeches, Drew. Ask anyone. I think I tried it once on my youngest charge-Seth."

"What happened?"

"He died." Zack shoved his hands into his pockets. "Never could get the hang of him; he was too like Max, and she was always impossible to control."

A ghost of a smile echoed around Drew's lips at the thought of anyone trying to control Max.

"Yesterday . . ." Zack looked into the distance. "Reminded me of Ben."

Drew stiffened, her voice dying in her throat.

"When we first broke out I told everyone to go to ground, to split and lay low. I was doing the right thing for my Unit; I believed it then and still do now. But Ben was always a little different. Odd. He always tried harder than any of us even though he was just as good, better in some ways although," his voice changed, "I'll deny that to my dying day."

Drew couldn't even dredge up a smile at that.

"But Ben . . . I guess I was harder on him because of what I knew. Back in Manticore I'd been in the med bay and heard two techies talking about a test case. It was the precursor to the X8s with the sonar DNA. They'd been dicing DNA and had infused their results into three specimens. They mentioned 493 and two other designations that I didn't know at the time."

"What was the DNA?"

Zack sighed. "They'd been crossing over and looking at humans through the ages, warriors of all kinds. Something like what the Cult was doing, getting the best genetic samples from human clones and manipulating it. They were talking about Berserkers from Norse mythology who went crazy in battle with rage, to the point of madness. They were the root of the myths that spread the legend of the werewolf. Half-human, half-beast. They would tear flesh with their teeth and throw off their clothes and sometimes turn on their friends."

Drew swallowed, the words painting a picture for her that chilled the very blood in her veins. She wanted Zack to shut up, to go away, to not know these things about her. She tightened her fists, nails slicing into her palms.

"Manticore wanted to see if they could replicate the process with a little more restraint. Couldn't have their perfect soldiers turning on each other or running around naked. Not the kind of distraction they needed. They infused the DNA strands with more animalistic strains of bear, lion, panther and wolf. Then they upped the dosages of adrenaline releases, endorphins and . . . opioids."

Drew closed her eyes in horror. Every body had the pain-numbing peptides in it to some extent, but to add what was effectively heroin or opium to your system was like doping an addict and upping the dosage every time it was used. She was going to become an addict to her own psychosis.

"The drugs in your system overcome reason and inhibit pain receptors causing fearlessness, uncontrollable rage and other . . . side effects. The first subject killed a Trainer with his bare hands and was the reason that they monitored Ben and . . . you."

Tears slipped down her face.

"You're the test subject for Manticore's own version of the werewolf, Drew."

An icy fist gripped at the rage in her chest and started to choke her slowly.

"It's your DNA." Zack spoke quietly, his eyes fixed on Joshua like he couldn't see what he was doing to Drew. "But you can fight it. Ben has."

Her lip curled in a snarl of disbelief.

Zack seemed to realise that his words weren't helping.

"He has," he insisted. "I didn't think he could. Didn't think he could fight against his DNA but he has and so can you. We will have some of the best medical facilities and personnel and we can find someway of decreasing the effectiveness of the opioids in your system. We can do it, Drew. It's possible."

She swallowed again, against the words and the tears that she wanted to scream out.

"On the battlefield I could recall you back to us, Drew. You responded to me. Maybe because the wolf recognises an Alpha, maybe because I'm used to leading. Maybe just because. I can help you, if you'll let me. I was never there for Ben. I'd like to try again."

Drew's hands were cold and the droplets on her cheeks were colder but Zack's words were starting to penetrate that chill.

"You're not alone here, Drew. I understand. Ben understands. We can help."

She slowly nodded, pushing back her pain. "If you can . . . You planning on sticking around for a while then? I thought Max said you'd be off."

Zack looked over her shoulder to where Emma was helping Joshua with his surprise. "I think I'll be sticking around for a while."

* * *

B.J. cursed as the large metal pole slipped from his grip again.

"Em, I don't think you're holding it right."

She dropped the pole and stuck her hands on her hips. "You wanna do it, smart ass?"

He grinned and pouted childishly. "Sowwy, Emmsie."

"Big Jerk." She paused. "Have you heard from Anna?"

B.J. went still and he looked over at her, her eyes intent on him. "Not since she last spoke to Max. I didn't really expect to. She's going after Manticore and Sandeman in Europe. She'll be busy and in danger, running for her life and probably swearing a great deal through it. She'll be having a blast and not really have time to call home to check in on . . . friends."

His voice came across as carefree and the only one who knew him well enough to know if he was faking it was currently trawling across Europe looking for trouble.

"You miss her?"

"No." His answer was quick, strident, uncompromising and blatantly false.

Emma knew better than to call him on it.

They were interrupted by the roof door opening and transgenics filtering out onto the roof.

* * *

Dek and Ben dumped Pix's wheelchair down. "Sorry we're late," Dek chirped. "We had to drag the cripple up here."

Pix grinned. "Guess what I found?"

Dek shrugged. "What?"

"This!" Pix whipped out the black book and saw Dek's eyes widen in recognition before he stumbled back.

"Sorry Pix, pal, buddy."

Ben stared at it in bemusement wondering on the twin reactions of fear from both Dek and Biggs. "What the hell is that thing?"

Dek clasped him on the shoulder. "Ben, my friend, let me tell you about 'The Book.'"

Max and Alec made their way over to Joshua who was unfurling something long and painted.

"Whatcha got there, Josh?" Max asked, with a huge smile on her face for her friend.

"Flag."

"A flag?" Alec looked dubious. "Do we get a theme song too?"

"Yeah," Max frowned. "It's called 'oops upside your head!'" She tapped his forehead and didn't see Dek and Pix exchange money.

Alec pouted which prompted Max to laugh and kiss it better.

Pix gave his money back to Dek who laughed and walked over to Drew.

Joshua looked up to see that everyone had gathered around.

"Our flag!" he announced and everyone went quiet.

"This is you, me, even them. It's all of us." He pointed to the black stripe at the bottom of the flag. "This is where we came from—where they tried to keep us."

"In the dark," Jondy nodded, agreeing with the statement. "In the basement, swept aside like garbage."

"Fighting for a way out but never getting there," Chance added, holding onto Pix's hand.

"Secret," Luke rubbed his scar. "Not allowed to see the day. Always hiding."

"Ashamed." Dix touched his deformed face. "Made to be a monster."

"Alone. Alone in the dark." Ben stood tall.

Joshua nodded. "This is where we are now."

There was a long strip of deepest red across the middle. "Because our blood is being spilled."

"Fallen friends." Biggs clasped Sunny's hand.

"Family." Skye reached out for Flex and Galen, holding them tightly.

"Metz," Drew murmured.

"Steve," Alec added.

Other voices joined theirs, so many that it was like a whisper over the roof as people added the fallen to the wind.

"Ash."

"Seth."

"Jack."

"Eva."

"Romana."

"Kelpy."

"Techie."

"Feen."

Joshua touched the white dove in the centre of the picture that seemed to be waiting to fly out of the blood and into the last stripe.

A white stripe.

"This is where we want to go."

Cece held baby Steve close and kissed his forehead. "Into the light."  
Joshua smiled. "Right."

He stopped and looked at Max who just smiled back. "I'm done with speeches, Joshua. Maybe our leader?"

Pix cleared his throat and looked away. "Uh, I think Alec had something that he wanted to say to everyone."

Max shook her head but, to her surprise, Alec walked forward and stood under the flag.

"Max is done with speeches," he said. "But I'm not. I can't be. We were made to be soldiers, to take all that they had to give us and go on. We were handed our lot in life and told to deal with it and we did. All of us." He made eye contact with each transgenic. "We just went along with what they said blindly following orders. Never questioning the orders even when they felt wrong, even when they hurt. Never answering back, never standing out, always keeping our heads down and pretending that it didn't matter. But it did."

He swallowed. "Then in 2009, 12 transgenics said 'no more.' They stood up and said no more fighting, no more family disappearing, no more hurting. No more orders. They did what we wished we could do. They escaped."

The 09ers looked at each other. Zack held his hands out for Tinga and Jace. Krit leaned against Syl and Zane patted Ben on the back. Jondy smiled at Max.

"Eleven made it out and one stayed. One got left behind. 452. Max. She was one of them, one of the reasons that things got hard for us, but at the same time she was one of us. The 09ers showed us that we didn't have to live like that and Max showed us how to live.

"I joined Special Ops because it was expected. Others joined to get away from the unit they had before. Others joined because they had no choice. We were all hoping for something different. I was hoping to find an early mission and maybe an early death." Alec looked towards Max at the revelation and she nodded. She had expected something like that. He smiled softly.

"That isn't what I found. I found a family. I found hope. That's what Terminal City is. It's family. It's hope. It's living with people who understand us and who will fight for us. Fight to stay together. Not because we're forced to, or because there is no choice, but because we want to. Here we choose our own units, our own family. Our own life.

"This war we've fought is for our own sakes.

"Normals say it's for them that we're doing this. We're their protectors. It's not. We're not.

"We were kept in the dark—" he pointed at the flag "—and we're gonna make our own way into the light. We can do that. And we can do that for one reason. None of it would have been possible without the spark. We would have stayed in the dark where they made us if not for her."

Alec turned to Max again.

"As far as I'm concerned, the day I met you was the first time I breathed. The first time I opened my eyes and saw the world. And it was you." He swallowed against the rush of emotion. "Some units weren't so lucky but now, thanks to the 09ers and to Max, we all have that opportunity. Terminal City is home to Freak Nation. They say we're contained but I say we're free. Free to greet the sun and walk down the street without fear. We don't have to run and we don't have to hide anymore. That is what home means."

He trailed off and looked around. "This is our home and we're going nowhere."

"Amen!" Mole yelled and threw his fist into the air in a gesture of triumph. He was followed one by one by every transgenic in solidarity, a sea of hands reaching for the sky, striving for the light.

It was beautiful.

Max stepped forward and throwing all her insecurities away, took hold of Alec's coat, hauled him to her and kissed him. Passionately.

A catcall went up from the crowds amassed on the rooftop and applause broke out as each one turned to his fellow transgenic and shared the moment.

Zack shook his head in bewilderment. "Sentimentality!"

Emma grinned up at him, grabbing his hand. "A least it's not phoney."

Skye looked around the roof as families and friends huddled together, remembering the fallen and letting the living know that they were loved. It was heart-warming and honest, like something off the front of a greeting card.

She looked down at Galen. "I swear to Manticore, Galen, if your next words are 'God bless us everyone,' I'm throwing you off the roof."

Galen giggled and tucked himself under her chin while Flex pressed a kiss to her hair.

"How 'bout, I love you?"

Skye smiled. "That I can live with."

A pause.

"Think Max is ever gonna come up for air?"

* * *

Alec draped his arms around Max as they stood on the edge of the roof, staring out over the city; the city that had persecuted them for so long; the city that had been home to their aches and heartbreaks, to the destruction of friends and family.

The city they loved and hated in equal measure.

He breathed into her hair, inhaling the scent that made it all worth it.

"It's not over," Max said quietly. "It'll never be over."

"Yeah." Alec nodded. "It isn't all tied up in a nice bow for us, Max. We still have enemies, and friends masquerading as them."

"Lydecker?"

"He'll want us back, Max. He won't have stopped."

"I know. There are still the other bases as well."

Alec looked surprised and Max smiled.

"I haven't forgotten Bulli, Alec. Then there are other government agencies out for our blood: literally, the Reds and China, Mexico and wherever; everyone who wants to be faster, everyone who wants an army. Eyes Only did us a favour in getting our story out but it's also a curse. The more that know we're out there, the more danger we're in. Once word gets out, we'll be more hunted than ever."

"But we're together," Alec pointed out. "More safety in numbers than if we went to ground. We need each other."

"Yeah." Max hugged his arms tighter and it was some time before he spoke again.

"You think Anna will find what she's looking for?"

"I don't know," Max bit her lip staring out over the city and beyond, knowing that their struggle was far from over.

Somewhere out there the Cult would reassemble, re-arm and reemerge, probably just when they least expected it. There would be no peace but maybe, just maybe, that was okay.

What did soldiers do in peacetime anyway?

She looked up at Joshua's flag. From the light into the darkness via blood.

Alec pulled her into his arms, staring at the flapping flag with something akin to pride. "So, Max, are you ready to move ahead? Surge forward into the new world all guns blazing? Pressing onwards so we don't get left behind?"

Max smiled and leaned back against him, folding herself into his embrace. "I don't think so. Let's stay still for a while."

* * *

The End

* * *

Oh Wow. It's done. 

Hell, I have no idea what to say. This has been three years in the making and I want to thank each and every person individually for reviewing and letting me know that they enjoyed it or didn't enjoy it or who they wanted to see more of.

Every single person who has reviewed has contributed to this story and I want to thank you all for making this such a great tale.

I also want to thanks my superb betas—**Itay** and **Princess Incognito** who have been fantastic! They've dropped everything to help me out and been on call through my insecurities. Thanks guys, I appreciate it.

To everyone who has been with me from Left Behind. I love you. Thank you.


End file.
